Moonlight, Fire, Lightning: Team 11's Tales
by Team 11
Summary: Kakashi once said that only 9 of the 27 graduates from the Academy would actually become full-fledged genin. But what if it was 12? Join Shiori Kuroshima, Hitomi Yamanaka, and Raiden Nagahara on an exciting journey through the ninja villages. SHANNARO!
1. Chapter 1

**Hooray! Chapter One is up!**

**Enjoy the story guys, and comment if you like it!**

**Please no flames... we will sob... AND COME AFTER YOU WITH KUNAI!**

**...scratch that last part...**

**Disclaimer: We, Shiori Kuroshima and Hitomi Yamanaka, make no claims to any recognizable characters.**

**We only own ourselves, Raiden Nagahara**—

[Raiden: You guys do NOT own me!]

[Hitomi: SHUT UP, RAIDEN!]

**—and a few more characters that will be on the way.**

**Thank you!**

**

* * *

**Chapter One

"Tanaka, Kazumi?"

"Here."

"Tsuchito, Mariko?"

"Present, Sensei."

"Uchiha, Sasuke?"

"Accounted for."

"Uzumaki, Naruto?"

Silence.

"Uzumaki, Naruto…"

Iruka-sensei was twitching again. Naruto was late to class. So as usual, Iruka-sensei would have to leave the class to find out why. All us Konoha Academy students knew that we would once again have quite a few minutes to ourselves before lessons started. Then again, there shouldn't be any _too_ difficult lessons today, since the final exams were tomorrow. Hopefully, it was just going to be review.

"That idiot's ALWAYS late to class! Can't he ever be NORMAL, and get to class on time?" That was Sakura Haruno, chastising Naruto, as always.

"But, Sakura, I-I'm sure that N-Naruto is on his way right now… It's p-probably not his fault, you kn-know?" That was Hinata Hyuga. She's a very sweet girl, and always sticks up for Naruto. I mean, it's not like he's a bad kid or anything, but for once I agree with Sakura; it would be nice if he could show up for class, and not cause a delay. But I guess it can't be helped.

The Academy classroom was buzzing. All of a sudden, a jonin ran in and whispered something to Iruka-sensei. When the jonin left, sensei was still twitching, but now with gritted teeth.

"Okay, class," he began. "Naruto's not here right now. I'm going to be gone for a few minutes, and while I'm gone, no fooling around. Got it?" He glared at us all meaningfully.

"Of course not, sensei!" Kiba Inuzuka piped up, his little dog, Akamaru, yipping as well. "I mean, since when have _we_ ever fooled around?"

The class broke into a chorus of laughter.

Iruka-sensei smiled. "Ha-ha-ha. I'm serious, guys!" He looked around the classroom. While walking out, he said, "Yamanaka, you're in charge."

Both my friend, Hitomi, and another classmate, Ino, looked up.

"But, sensei!" They called out simultaneously.

"Oh, sorry!" Iruka-sensei hopped back in, and stuck his head in the doorway. "Sorry, girls! I meant Ino's in charge!"

Hitomi slammed her head on the desk in front of me, her short black hair flying. I could almost _see_ the lines of depression seeping out of her. Ino, who sat in the seat before her, turned around and stuck out her tongue, pulling down her eyelid.

I tapped Hitomi in the back. "Don't worry so much! It's probably only because she sits in the front. Sensei must've spotted her first, nothing major!" Of course, that wasn't enough to cheer her up. So I kicked the back of her seat, jolting her upright. I took one of the hair pins keeping her crowning braids together.

Meanwhile, Ino was triumphantly walking up to the front of the room. Technically, she didn't have to do this. All she had to do, really, was make sure the class didn't become too rowdy, like throwing things or having all-out fist fights. Or worse, ninja fights! She could easily do this from her desk. But of course, she loved the spotlight, a fatal flaw of the Yamanaka Clan. A fatal flaw of both Ino Yamanaka, and Hitomi Yamanaka.

Hitomi turned around, eyeing the hair pin in my fingers. "What are you doing?" She asked hesitantly.

"Waiting for the right moment." I replied with a mischievous smile.

Hitomi shook her head, grinning. She took out the other pin, and laid it flat on her desk. She undid her braids and smoothed out her hair, rendering it straight and the slightest bit longer.

Ino sat on top of Iruka-sensei's desk, smiling proudly. She crossed her arms and legs and then started to brag about random _talents_ of hers. Hitomi and I sighed exasperatedly when she started to add, "See, Sasuke? Isn't that right, Sasuke? Isn't that so cool, Sasuke?"

Hitomi turned around again, her dark gray eyes bulging. "Planning to act anytime soon? I don't think I could take another minute of this. I might puke!"

The classmate to my right folded his arms behind his head. "I know, right? What a drag. It's always _Sasuke this_, and _Sasuke that_… Man, sometimes I wish that guy wasn't so… Sasuke-like."

I laughed. "What's the matter, Shikamaru? Feeling a bit jealous?"

Shikamaru Nara sighed. "Tch. Really, Shiori? Jealous? Of that guy? That'll be the day. What about you, Shino?" Shikamaru motioned to the boy in front of him, and next to Hitomi. "What do you think of Sasuke?" Shino Aburame was… well, to simply put it, the quiet type.

"Well, I can't say that I respect him, and nor that I hate him." He said in a monotone voice, without turning around.

Shikamaru grimaced. "Whaa?"

Shino gave a curt reply. "I don't like to explain the same thing twice."

Hitomi raised an eyebrow. Shino really creeped her out sometimes, she would tell me. There was almost something… unsettling about him. I mostly understood what she meant by that. He _was_ very, how to say, _mysterious_ about everything, never taking off his dark sunglasses and hiding behind the collar of his jacket.

"So, when are you planning to… er, 'deploy your plan'?" Hitomi asked again.

"Hahaha! Not to worry," I patted her teasingly on the head. "After all, patience is a virtue!" She seemed satisfied with this answer, and turned to face the front. Seeing Ino with her hands on her hips, face to face with Sakura Haruno, she slammed her head on the desk again. I followed suit. We both knew what was coming, along with the rest of the class.

"STOP IT, INO-PIG! YOU'LL NEVER GET SASUKE, AND YOU KNOW IT! HE'S MINE!"

"AS IF, BILLBOARD-BROW! HOW COULD _SASUKE_ EVER FALL FOR SOMEONE WITH SUCH A _HUGE_ FOREHEAD? YOU'VE GOT NO CHANCE!"

They went on and on, while Sasuke turned towards the window, grinding rocks to dust in his hand.

I kicked the back of Hitomi's seat again, and she turned.

I attempted to make a series of hand signs, concentrating on the hair pin, and aiming at Ino.

But just then, angry footsteps were heard in the hallway, stopping me midway. All the students scrambled for their desks and sat perfectly still.

Iruka-sensei stomped inside, dragging a tied up Naruto by the collar. I couldn't help but suppress a chuckle.

"I'm at the end of my rope, Naruto!" Iruka-sensei started out. "You failed the graduation test last time, and the time before that. Tomorrow you've got another chance, and you're messing up again!"

The class was silent, watching intently.

"Hmph!" Naruto defiantly turned away from Iruka-sensei, pointing his nose upwards. Sensei's temples started to visibly throb.

"FINE! BECAUSE YOU MISSED IT, NARUTO, EVERYONE WILL REVIEW THE TRANSFORMATION JUTSU!"

"_Awww_!" The whole classroom was filled with whines and moans.

_Well,_ I thought to myself. _It seems that I was right. We ARE doing a review. But I didn't think we would review THIS jutsu. We perfected it a LONG time ago!_

We all lined up against the desks in the front of the room. Sensei called each of our names, and asked us to transform into him, and everyone was doing it correctly so far. Hitomi and I were near the end of the line, right behind Hinata Hyuga. She's actually one of our good friends, though she's very shy. Once you get to know her, she's a kind, thoughtful, and creative individual.

At the moment, however, she was staring at Naruto, who was near the front of the line, right behind Sakura and Sasuke. Hinata was talking quietly with us about a recent assignment, but we could tell that she was disorientated, since she was poking her fingers together and blushing furiously.

Sakura and Sasuke did it perfectly, and the line moved on.

"Next, Naruto Uzumaki!" Iruka-sensei called out.

_Come on, Naruto!_ I thought. _At least get this right for the sake of the class!_

"This is a total waste of time, Naruto," Shikamaru said near the front of the line.

"Yeah!" Ino agreed. "We always have to pay for YOUR screw-ups!"

"Like I care…" Naruto said spitefully. Then he walked up towards Iruka-sensei.

Hinata made a quiet sigh, still poking her fingers together and blushing. Both Hitomi and I could tell that she was hoping for Naruto to do well. He had such a determined look on his face that we actually believed that he was confident enough, and that he would succeed!

That's where we were utterly wrong.

Things went downhill from there.

Naruto yelled _transform_, yes… but…

"TRANSFORM!"

Hinata fainted.

Hitomi yelled in horror.

My arm spazzed and punched Kiba Inuzuka in the face.

"What the—HEY!" he spluttered.

Naruto had transformed into a very… well, _noticeable_ blonde woman, causing Iruka-sensei to fall backwards with a nosebleed and a disturbed yell.

Another one of our classmates, Mariko Tsuchito, pushed her cropped blue hair out of her eyes and shouted, "YOU PERVERTS!"

Naruto transformed back into his normal self and burst into laughter. "HAHAHA! Gotcha! That was my sexy jutsu!"

Iruka-sensei snapped. "CUT THE STUPID TRICKS! THIS IS YOUR LAST WARNING!"

This brought Hinata, Hitomi and I back to sanity. I looked to my side to see Kiba staring at me with narrowed eyes, my hand was still in contact with his nose.

"Heh, sorry, Kiba. My arm... spazzed..."

"Whatever, it's fine," he shrugged. "I don't blame you. That Naruto's somethin' else, you know?"

"Yeah, I guess," I turned to Hitomi and Hinata. "I don't know if I'll be able to make it through the day, guys."

Mariko came over to our little group, shaking her head. "I don't know if I'll be able to either! By the way, how are you guys feeling about the Genin Exams tomorrow?"

Hitomi answered first. "I'm so ready for this! I just know I'm going to ace this!"

Hinata and I agreed.

"Yeah, I feel pretty confident, too," Mariko continued. "Graduating from the Academy isn't supposed to be that hard, from what I've heard. I think they're just going to ask us to perform a few jutsus, actually."

"Really?" I replied. "No written section?"

"Well, I'm not really sure, I'm only guessing."

Hinata piped up. "Do you th-think that Naruto will pass? I hope he doesn't f-fool around in the exam."

Hitomi nudged Hinata in the shoulder with a smile. "Don't worry about it, Hinata. I'm sure he'll do fine."

Hinata gave a small smile back.

* * *

Classes had ended about 10 minutes ago, and Mariko, Hinata, Hitomi, and I were chatting and walking home. A few minutes later, after passing the Hot Springs, Hinata's stop came.

"Bye, everyone!" she called, looking backwards and waving as she walked towards the Hyuga main household.

After we replied our farewells, told her we'd see her tomorrow, and wished her good luck, we continued walking.

Mariko turned around and started to walk backwards with her arms folded behind her head. "I still can't believe Naruto had the guts to do that…" she was looking at the Hokage Monument. We could still see a thin outline of his and Iruka-sensei's figures. Mariko wasn't actually talking about the… er, _incident_ in class, but of what Naruto had been doing before he was tied up and brought in. He had put graffiti all over the Hokage faces.

Hitomi made a low whistle. "I didn't think _anyone_ would do something like that. It was totally unexpected. I thought he had just done something like the usual, like playing hookie!"

"Or setting off fire-crackers in the hospital…" I added humorously.

Mariko didn't want to be left out. "Or even spending the whole day in Ichiraku Ramen Bar!"

I laughed. "Well, you can't really blame him for that. Ichiraku is the BEST! By the way, Jun said she's going to take me there tomorrow, after we graduate. Any of you want to come?"

"Is that even a question?" Hitomi squealed. "Of course I'm going!"

Mariko sighed. "I can't. I have to go to the B-B-Q shop with Choji, Shikamaru, and all our dads. It's going to be so awkward… AND I DON'T EVEN LIKE BARBECUE!"

"Aw, that's too bad!" Hitomi said sympathetically.

"Yeah," Mariko nodded. "But I guess that's what happens when your dad's best friend is from the Akimichi Clan…"

I chuckled. "C'mon, don't be so mean!"

Mariko sighed. "I'm not trying to! Anyway, here's my stop. Bye, guys!"

"Bye, Mariko!" Hitomi said.

"See you tomorrow!" I said as well.

Mariko waved and headed towards her house. Now, it was just me and Hitomi. And the Yamanaka Clan wasn't too far away. We kept walking.

"I can't wait for tomorrow," Hitomi said quietly. "I feel incredibly excited, but extremely anxious as well."

"I feel the same way. What if the exams aren't so easy after all?" I replied. _That's it_, I thought to myself. _I'm practicing every jutsu I know tonight, I don't care if I drain out my chakra_!

Hitomi sighed. "Well, if we don't pass with flying colors," here she pumped her fist into the air, as we neared the Yamanaka Clan community. "WE'LL AT LEAST PASS AND LEAVE EVERYONE ELSE TO EAT OUR DUST!"

All of a sudden, Ino came into view, who was heading home as well. "Tch. Yeah, right, Hitomi! If anyone's going to be 'eating dust', IT'LL BE _YOU_ EATING MINE!"

Hitomi's face contorted into one of pure rage. "INNNOOOOOO!" She ran at Ino at full force, but didn't get too far once I grabbed her shoulder, restraining her.

"Oh, leave her. She's not worth it." I said calmly.

"HA!" Ino shouted. "YOU HAVE TO BE SAVED BY YOUR DORK FRIEND! HOW LAME IS _THAT_?"

I frowned. Then, my face twisted into somewhat of an evil smile. "Oops!" I said sweetly, as I let go of Hitomi.

Hitomi ran towards Ino, while Ino screamed and ran for the Yamanaka Clan's gates.

"_INVISIBLE BARRIER JUTSU_!" I yelled. But then, I saw the kunai in Hitomi's hands.

That's when I regretted my _mistake_, and my jutsu.

"HEY, YOU THREE! BREAK IT UP!" A boy with light blonde hair, the same color as Ino's, was running up to us from inside the Yamanaka residence. I quickly dispelled the _Invisible Barrier Jutsu_.

Hitomi stood up and grinned, scratching the back of her head. "Sorry, Kazuhiro! I couldn't resist." He looked only a bit older than us, probably only 16, or 17.

"Uh, Hitomi?" I said awkwardly. "I think it's time for me to go now. See you tomorrow!" Then I put on a creepy smile, and voice to match. "_You too, Ino!_"

Ino looked away defiantly. "Hmph!"

I waved to Hitomi and continued along the path. I looked back and saw the one named Kazuhiro ruffle up Hitomi's and Ino's heads and smile while they looked away from each other. Then he laughed and said, "You two are hilarious…"

I kept walking, past the markets and shops that littered the streets' sides. Two young boys were running and dodging in the alleyways and in the open, 'playing ninja', throwing cardboard shuriken at each other. A girl was following behind, looking as if she was about to cry.

One of the boys stopped. "What's the matter, Moegi?"

The girl named Moegi sniffed. She began to tearily say something when she took out some cardboard shuriken of her own and pinned the boy. "HAH! GOTCHA!"

I laughed to myself and kept walking. After I passed the Konoha Stadium, I reached my own home, the Kuroshima Clan.

I walked through the gates. It was quiet, as usual. I saw one of my cousins, Shun, practicing with nunchaku near some sparring posts. She turned when she saw me and made to greet me, when she moved her hand the wrong way, making the nunchaku handles hit her on the head.

"SHUN!" I yelled, dropping my knapsack and running over to her. "Are you okay?"

Shun's eyes were spinning. "Uh… whaa? H-Hello, Ju—I mean, uh…. Shiori?" Her eyes focused. "Heh, sorry, Shiori. I'm such a klutz!"

"Are you sure you're alright?" I asked, looking at her head. There was a slightly protruding bump in the midst of her tousled brown hair, but it wasn't _too_ big.

"Hahaha! I'm sure that I'm just fine. Not to worry!" she reassured me.

I smiled, picked up my bags, and walked a bit farther, to my own house. As I turned around, I saw the reassuring smile slide off Shun's face and turn into a look of anxiety. She ran into her own house, and yelled to her mother about wanting an ice pack.

When I finally reached my house, I walked in and said, "Hello? Anyone here?"

Nobody answered.

"Ah, well." I set my bag down and walked to my bedroom. The walls were lined with sketches of different plants, buildings, and people in the Hidden Leaf. Even though I had promised myself, I didn't feel like practicing my jutsus, so I grabbed a couple of graphite sticks and a pad of paper and went back outside. I found a tree and sat under it, when I realized I had no idea what to sketch. Suddenly, I didn't feel like sketching at all.

"Funny," I said aloud. "It seems that I've become bipolar in a day." Though it was probably only from the anxiety of the Genin Exams. So instead of practicing ninjutsu, which was bound to be in the exam, I practiced taijutsu, which was not going to be on it, with Shun.

"Oh, that's right, the Genin Exams are tomorrow." She said while swiping a roundhouse kick at me. I dodged and jumped up, attempting to land a falling axe-kick. She evaded the technique, and appeared behind me. I thrust my elbow backwards, but… no contact.

_Wait, no contact?_ I did a double-take. _The Clone Jutsu!_

"SHUN! This is taijutsu! No ninjustu allowed!" Still, she sent several clones at me, each dissolving into thin air as I struck.

"Hahaha! Always be prepared for anything, Shiori!" Then, that _demonic_ girl threw a flash bomb in my direction. I managed to get out of the way, so that there was no impact, but I was still temporarily blinded. As I started to see things again, she threw four smoke bombs from different directions. I wasn't able to see, _again_.

I was panicking. I had to tell myself to calm down. I closed my eyes, and stopped struggling to see through the smoke.

You see, most descendants of the Kuroshima Clan have an interesting talent. We are able to force all our concentration into one of the human senses, and use our chakra to strengthen it. And it's not _just_ the five senses; this also includes the sixth sense, the sense of balance, the sense of temperature, and many more kinds. I just happen to share this talent with many of my kith and kin.

I concentrated on my senses of hearing and of direction. This way, I could be able to perceive where Shun would attack from with the sense of hearing, and at the same time be able to tell where I'm going based on my sense of direction. Shun's elder sister, Jun, and yes, those are their names, told me once that the sense of direction can come especially in handy when on missions, because it gives you the ability to detect the direction one is facing, also referred to as magnetoception.

Once I concentrated on hearing and direction, Shun immediately attacked.

"_DEFENSIVE IMPACT_!" Shun delivered a tremendous punch to the ground, causing the ground to shudder and rise up in a semi-sphere. The strange thing was, I heard the yell from one direction, and the earth moving in another. The smoke suddenly dissipated, revealing Shun to be aiming a spinning kick right at me. I struck her leg with my arm, and we engaged in a grueling fist fight that lasted a good half an hour, kick after kick, punch after punch. Eventually, we realized that this might never end, so we called a truce, laughing and collapsing in front of a tree.

"So, do you think you'll be ready for the Genin Exams tomorrow?" she asked with a chuckle. She tightened her Leaf headband.

"Well, actually, Taijutsu isn't—"

"I know, I know, I mean, how confident are you?"

"Well, pretty confident, I guess. And I can't wait to get a Leaf headband!" I added.

"I remember when I first got mine," Shun removed the headband, and looked at it in her hands. "I felt like I couldn't wear it for weeks, because I didn't feel any different after I passed! But the feeling went away. Now, I can hardly take it off!"

I smiled in reply. Then I looked up to the sky. "It's getting late. I should probably go now."

"You better get a good night's rest. It's never good to miss out on sleep before something important."

I nodded and stood up. "Bye, Shun."

She waved and stood up as well, and we went our separate ways.

The house was still empty when I came back, so I went along and warmed up some miso soup with an onigiri. Most days it was like this, considering my mother is a jonin, always on missions, and my father is an ANBU Black Op.

After I finished eating and drinking a cup of milk, I headed upstairs to go to sleep.

Tomorrow was going to be an interesting day.

* * *

"HELL!" I shouted. I ran as fast as I could, jumping over newspaper and magazine stands. People were yelling at me to watch it, I could hurt someone. I even scared the old man from Ichiraku Ramen Bar by running into him while he was carrying several orders!

"Sorry! I'm in a hurry!" I yelled, looking back.

He just shook his head and sighed. "Youth these days… _always_ in a hurry…"

I kept running, dodging children and swerving for elderly women. I attracted many stares and curious looks. I don't really blame them, though. A girl with half-brushed wet hair, running through the streets as if Death were after her? Pretty strange.

I had forgotten to put an alarm for today, since I was stressing so much. Thankfully, I woke up just 20 minutes after I was supposed to, and not _too_ late. I only had time to change and grab another onigiri for a quick breakfast. To top off the bad beginning of my day, as I ran out of my still empty house, I bumped into Shun's mother, who was carrying a big basin of water, which of course, spilled all over me. You could probably imagine that my day was not going too well.

See, the unfortunate thing is, the Academy is all the way on the other side of the Leaf Village from the Kuroshima Clan. The Yamanaka and Hyuga Clans and even Mariko's house are all closer to the Academy.

But when the Academy came into view, I finally relaxed, and sped up. I pushed through the gates.

I sighed with relief. The students were _just_ filing into the building. I guess I wasn't that late, after all. But then again, when I normally go to the Academy, I walk slowly with Hinata, Mariko, and Hitomi, building our _posse_ in the opposite way than going home.

Hitomi was speaking with Mariko, who had a glum face, when she turned around and saw me.

"Hey, where've you be—Wait… what happened to _you_?"

I shook my head and said that I was just running late.

* * *

We sat down at our desks, chatting with the people next to us and worrying about the exams.

Iruka-sensei cleared his throat. "We will now start the final exam. When your name is called, please proceed to the testing room. The final test will be on…"

We all waited with baited breath.

"The _Clone Jutsu_!"

_NO WAY!_ I shouted in my head. _THAT'S EXACTLY WHAT SHUN KEPT TRYING YESTERDAY! I'M SO GONNA ACE THIS!_

Mariko turned around from her seat in the front and winked at me and Hitomi. She had even said that the test would probably be on performing jutsus.

I looked to my left to see Naruto a few seats down, holding his head in his hands. That was a bad sign. Then something else caught my eye. In the front, Sakura was… punching the air in front of her. It was, kind of disturbing actually. She just kept on punching, as if at an invisible target.

"First up," our sensei called out. "Aburame, Shino!"

From next to Hitomi, Shino slowly got up, and walked to the testing room, hands in the pockets of his freakishly large jacket. Most probably, we would be testing in alphabetical order. My hypothesis was proven when the next two students called were Choji Akimichi and Tatsuya Chiba. After a student took the exam, they were sent outside of the Academy. Though, I didn't really see the purpose of this, since there was virtually no way to cheat on performing a jutsu in front of an examiner.

Names kept being called, and then sensei would follow the student into the testing room. After Hinata went, sensei came out and called my name.

"Kuroshima, Shiori!"

_Well, no need to say it with such enthusiasm!_ I was a bit gritty at the time, being anxious and all. I knew the jutsu perfectly, but call me paranoid, there were still many things that could go wrong!

I walked into the testing room. It was similar to our classroom, but without all the student desks; that way there was more room. At the front of the room, was a table where Iruka-sensei sat down, next to a man with spiked grayish-white hair that reached down to his shoulders. He was sitting with his elbows on the table, his arms and hands supporting his head while leaning forward. He was profusely smiling as well.

_What a creep… Why is he smiling like that?_ I thought to myself.

"Look at you, you've got hair similar to mine!" He said cheerfully.

_Okay, now this is getting disturbing_. I decided to only look to Iruka-sensei.

"This is Mizuki-sensei; he's a chunin, like myself." Iruka sensei told me.

"Hello." I said nervously.

"Why, hello to you too!" He was still smiling.

"Alright, Shiori, go ahead. Make three clones, and you'll pass." Sensei prompted.

I took a deep breath, turned away from Mizuki-sensei, and made the hand signs.

_Ram… Snake… Tiger…_

"_CLONE JUTSU_!"

To my right, left, and front, three clones appeared, each holding either kunai or shuriken.

Mizuki-sensei clapped and smiled cheekily. "Very good, very good!" I had to fight the urge to go over there and punch him into the wall.

Iruka-sensei looked at him and then turned back to me. "Nicely executed, Shiori. You pass!" He then handed me one of the many Leaf headbands lying on the desk where the two men sat.

I made a quick bow, and uttered my thanks to both sensei, and exited the room from the second door, leading to the outside while putting on my headband. There were a total of 8 students already outside. The only two girls were Sakura and Hinata. Sakura was bragging to nobody in particular, saying how easy the examination was.

I went over to Hinata. "How did you do?" I asked her.

Hinata gave a small smile and pointed to the Leaf headband, which she had placed around her neck. "I did perfectly, Iruka-sensei told me."

I congratulated her, and told her that I had done well, too. Then I frowned. "Was there another sensei in there?"

The smile melted off her face as well. "Yes, h-he was very awkward."

"He smiled creepily the whole time, I felt like I was going to lose control and _release my inner fury_." I joked.

Hinata nodded. "It was very unpleasant."

We kept chatting while more students filed out. After me, Kiba came out, followed by Norio Izumino, then Akane Kimura. Akane went over to Sakura and they started talking about how _dreamy_ Sasuke was and that they knew he would pass with flying colors.

After exactly 9 people came out, Mariko arrived with her headband on her forehead, walking around the area till she found us. "Hey, did you see that other sensei?"

"You mean, Mizuki-sensei? The guy with a never-ending grin?" I replied.

Mariko laughed. "Yeah, him. But wait, isn't that a girl's name?"

Hinata joined in. "Really? I'm n-not so sure about that."

Mariko shrugged, tapping the Leaf headband. "Anyway, he's a real scoundrel. Staring at all the girls like that… Why I oughtta…" Mariko was usually like this. Plotting against the men of the world. That's one of the real reasons I like her!

She continued. "Shikamaru told me he wasn't like that for him, or any of the other boys. What a creep…"

Sasuke came out a few seconds later, causing the 4 other girls to run over to him and start bombarding him with questions, some of which did NOT even come close to being related to the exams. Next, Naruto came out, but he looked extremely droopy, and walked over to the wooden swing that was tied to one of the trees. He just sat there in the shadows. No headband in sight.

"You don't think…" I started out, feeling extremely bad.

Hinata looked incredibly depressed. "Oh, Naruto…"

Mariko looked a bit glum as well. "Poor kid."

Finally, Hitomi came out. There were just 2 people who had to come out after her, Ino and a boy named Takumi Yoshido. Hitomi ran over to us, holding the headband in her hands above her head. "I PASSED! IRUKA-SENSEI SAID I DID IT EXCEPTIONALLY!" Then she did a little victory dance. She stopped suddenly when she saw the gloomy looks on our faces. "What happened?"

I nodded towards Naruto sitting on the swing. Hitomi looked for a moment, and then her smile melted off her face. "Oh," she said quietly.

* * *

Hinata, Mariko, Hitomi, and I had mostly forgotten our pity for Naruto as we walked away from the Academy, but I suppose that Hinata was still feeling terrible deep down.

"Hinata, are you sure you can't come with Hitomi and I to Ichiraku tonight?" I asked her once again.

Mariko groaned. "You guys are _so_ lucky…"

Hinata smiled. "Thank you for the offer, but again, m-my father wouldn't like it if I went out at night."

So we left it at that.

After Hinata and Mariko disbanded from the group, Hitomi and I kept walking.

"When we reach your place, you can go in and leave your stuff, I guess. I'll come back from my house after an hour or so. Hopefully, Jun will come by then."

"I guess, sure! Anyway, I should probably see if my dad's at least home yet."

"Sure, alright."

We arrived at the Yamanaka Clan, and Hitomi went inside, this time no brawl with Ino, thankfully. I waved to her, and continued home.

As I entered the Kuroshima Clan, I spotted Shun's mother. I went over to her and apologized again about bumping into her earlier.

"Oh, don't worry about it Shiori, it was just an accident. But why were you in such a hurry?"

I took my headband out of my bag and held it up to her.

"The Genin Exams were today?" she asked in astonishment.

I nodded, and she congratulated me. Then she said something about going to find Shun and chastise her about not telling her that I was going to graduate. I laughed and proceeded to my own home.

I emptied my bag of all my school books and put them neatly away in a cabinet. I decided not to bring anything to Ichiraku, not even the sketchbook which I keep with me at all times. The only thing I decided to keep with me was the Leaf headband. I looked at it again. A blue cloth with a metal plate with the Leaf insignia engraved on it. I tied it around my forehead and went off to show Shun.

* * *

About an hour later, I started off to the Yamanaka Clan. As I walked along, a figure with long black hair was running towards me. She had a mask on, but I couldn't exactly see what it looked like, she was running so fast. Then she passed me. _Then _she backtracked, jogging backwards.

The mask had vanished, as if it were never there, revealing Jun's face.

"Why, hello, Shiori!" She said with a chuckle. "I got a little bit ahead of myself. My, you've grown. I haven't seen you in… a year or so, have I?"

I nodded with a smile. It was true. Shun had told me of Jun's wanting to treat me when I graduated, not Jun herself. She's an ANBU Black Op, like my dad, and actually like Hitomi's father as well. Jun had recently been visiting the other lands for some important business, 3rd Hokage's orders.

"You've gotten taller, as well, Jun." I told her. She was about… 24 right now, more or less.

She laughed and we walked in the direction of the Yamanaka Clan. "So who else is coming with us?"

"Just Hitomi. You remember her, right?"

"Hm… the Uchiha-Yamanaka kid?"

"Er… Yeah, I guess."

"Hahaha, sorry. She's the one with the long black hair, right?"

"Not anymore, it's short now. Some girls thought that she was trying to impress the other Uchiha boy in our class by growing it long, like they did. She was _really_ insulted, so she cut it."

"Interesting…" she had a contemplative face.

"Wh-what?" I asked, confused.

Jun turned to me, confused. "What? Oh, no, it's nothing." Then I noticed she was staring at my own long hair, tied in a ponytail.

I softly punched her in the arm. "Expel the thought. I hate that kid as much as Hitomi."

Jun chuckled.

We reached the Yamanaka Clan, where Hitomi was sitting outside of the gates on the floor, with her own sketchbook in hand. When she spotted us, she got up and left the book in a bush next to a pillar.

Jun stared at her. "Hitomi? That you?"

"Hey, Jun, long time no see!"

So with a bewildered Jun, we set off to the Ichiraku Ramen Bar.

When we got there we each ordered a bowl of ramen from Ayame, Hitomi and I having seconds and even thirds. It's _that_ good. Then the old man, Teuchi, who I also bumped into earlier today came in and looked closely at me, squinting. "Hey, you were that girl who was in a hurry today, weren't you?"

Jun and Hitomi stopped halfway in slurping up ramen to look at me.

I scratched the back of my head and grinned. "Heh, yeah… Sorry about that, Teuchi-san. The Genin Exams were today, and I woke up late." I pointed to the headband on my forehead.

"Really?" Teuchi looked surprised. "I didn't know that!"

"I didn't either!" Ayame added.

_It seems that nobody knows about when the Genin Exams…_ I thought humorously. _Shun, Shun and Jun's mother, Teuchi, Aya—_

Teuchi smiled. "Then one more bowl of ramen to each of you, on the house!"

Hitomi's eyes widened. "Seriously? You'd do that?"

Ayame grinned. "Of course! It's not every day that you become a qualified ninja!"

Hitomi and I looked expectantly at Jun. She laughed. "Sure, go ahead. But please, Ayame, don't try to force another bowl on me. I won't be able to make it back if I eat more than this!"

"Gosh, you have such a small stomach!" I said to Jun.

All of a sudden, several shouting voices were heard outside. Jun turned around and lifted the Ichiraku banners blocking the view, revealing several Jonin shouting and running in one direction.

"Wonder what's going on…" she said quietly.

Hitomi and I were looking at the jonin as well. They looked angry, and we managed to make out a few words. _Scroll of Sealing, Stolen, _and _Forbidden Jutsu_.

Jun sighed. "I should probably see what's going on. What a bother…"

"What a role-model ANBU…" I muttered with a smile.

Jun pinched my nose and got up. "Bye, guys, congrats on graduating! I know you guys'll become great kunoichi."

Hitomi and I both waved, ramen noodles sticking out of our mouths.

Jun exited the Ramen Bar. A few seconds later, a thought occurred to us.

We stuck our heads out and through the banners of Ichiraku, to see Jun far in the distance.

"JUUUUUUUUUUUNNNN! YOU FORGOT TO PAY FOR THE RAAAAAMMMENNNN!"

* * *

**I remember that day well, don't you, Shiori?**

[Shiori: (sad face) How could I ever forget... my wallet was almost empty...]

**Hahaha, it's a good thing that the fourth bowls were on the house, then, right?**

[Shiori: I don't want to talk about it...]

**Well, if _you_ guys have any questions about characters or something else, comment with a question! We reply to every comment, even if it's just saying thank you!**_**

* * *

**__*Authoresses(?) Comments*_

___Hey, guys!_

___Be sure to check out our profile for some funnies, and updates on different things. Each time there's an important update, we'll state it in the chapter!_

_-Melpomene Black (Shiori)_

_-Lucky the Leprechaun (Hitomi)_


	2. Chapter 2

_Hi everybody! Today it's a Hitomi chapter. If I owned Naruto, Itachi-sama would be alive and Deidara-sempai would've told Madara to take a hike, therefore, I have no ownership whatsoever—except for Team 11, Mariko, ect. of oc's…_

[Raiden: "Why don't I get a special chapter? I mean, you didn't even mention my NAME in the last chapter!"]

_Yes, well, unfortunately, you're in this chapter…_

**But I'm the leading role, right?**

_Yeah, Hitomi, that's how it goes—the chapters alternate between you and Shiori, and being written by me and Melpomene._

**OKAY!**

_So, here's Chapter 2. Hope you enjoy! :)

* * *

_

_Recap: Genin exams have ended, and almost everyone has passed! Jun promises to treat Hitomi and Shiori to some ramen, but sadly leaves before paying. The next day is Picture Day for the brand new genin._

Chapter Two

I glared at the mirror. This time, yes, this time for sure. I set my mouth in a firm line and examined my reflection in the vanity, determined to succeed, and squeezing the hairpin experimentally. Then—ATTACK! The crowned braids was done and pinned back in a matter of seconds, but then—_poof_—it came undone. AGAIN.

I instantly sweatdropped, thinking, _Ugggghhh_._…How am I supposed to be the ultimate __kunoichi__ if I can't even hold my own against a few hairpins? _

It took another couple of failed attempts before finally getting around to securely pinning back my crowned braids. Then I tied the Uchiha Police Force bandanna over my raven locks, its triangular folded tip hanging down just above jagged bangs on the right side of my head. Sure, you were supposed to tie the Leaf headband over your forehead, but that little piece of cloth was way more important to me. So I settled with tying it around my neck, like I'd seen Hinata do the other day.

I looked myself over in the vanity once more, then smiled. Today was "Picture Day" for all us newly promoted Konoha ninja. And I mean, hey, I wasn't going to have a messed up photo go down in the records, right? How was anyone supposed to take me seriously then? It was bad enough I'd probably be so short I'd need to sit on a stool to be seen by the camera or something…no, better not to think like that.

Finally satisfied that I was "camera ready", I raced downstairs, surprised when I ran into my dad on the way down. He was busy balancing a teetering tower of medical books in his arms. It wasn't that I was shocked to have run into him, but merely that he was even _there_. He was only around the house half the time or less these days. ANBU keeps their employees pretty busy after all. Not like I'd ever really cared. The less I saw of him, the better—things had never been the same between us with Mom gone.

That didn't mean he wasn't willing to attempt closing the distance between us every now and then, though.

"Hitomi!" he cried out cheerfully, poking his head around the corner of the haphazard book stack. "I'm sorry I wasn't here yesterday…but I heard that you did exceptionally well on your exam! Congratulations!"

"Well…you know, it's no big deal. I mean, almost everyone passed…"

"Oh…" Tsuneo Yamanaka sounded almost crestfallen. Then, in an attempt to perk up and steer the conversation in a more cheerful direction, he quickly added, "Kazuhiro's extremely proud of you as well. In fact, he had me bring all his old starter's medical ninjutsu things over the moment I got back from my mission! He said he promises to teach you some techniques as soon as he gets the chance. Isn't that wonderful, Hitomi?"

It took a great deal of effort to hide my utter dismay.

Now, my cousin Kazuhiro and I have been close for years, almost like siblings now. But he's always going on about medical ninjutsu this and saving lives that. He's a member of the Konoha Medical Corps after all. Unfortunately, the concept of knowing techniques that allowed you to manipulate a person's blood flow, heart, and insides was just way too unnerving. And I didn't trust medical ninjutsu users. Not one little bit. With those scalpels, and creepy smiles, and how they always lie before the shot that it won't hurt and—yeah, so, bottom line, Kazuhiro's been trying to convert me into being a medical ninjutsu user for years now. Yamanaka were well known for medicine and all, but to be honest, that sort of field held no interest for me; the mind controlling aspects of my father's clan were fascinating enough! Of course, I'd never really had the heart to say that to Kazuhiro and well…as a result, this was what I had to deal with…great…

"Uh…yeah, thanks. You can just leave them downstairs, Dad. I'll bring them up to my room later."

"But, Hitomi," he sighed, "Are you sure you're alright today? You seem so—"

"Sorry, gotta go!" I called out, dashing downstairs before he could argue. "Picture day and all!"

"Hitomi, I—" Tsuneo tried again, but I was already out the door, taking in a breath of early morning fresh air.

"Late, Hitomi?"

I looked up, having not even realized that my friends—Shiori, Mariko, and Hinata—were standing right beside my porch, no doubt patiently waiting for me.

"What happened this time?" Mariko wondered aloud.

"I had a war with my hairpins," I confessed dismally.

"…"

"…"

"Well," Shiori sighed. "Did you win?"

We all laughed at that, and I jabbed a finger at my brand new shiny Leaf forehead protector. "Of course I did! After all, I'm a NINJA now!" I announced proudly, as if declaring such a thing should be news to them.

Grinning broadly, I looked to Mariko and asked, "Well, how was BBQ? Did Choji let you eat anything, or did he just swallow the whole table?"

Mariko's eyes flared as she raised her voice several ear splitting octaves. "WELL HE MIGHT AS WELL HAVE! That…that Aka_munch_i, he ate almost everything! And do you know that when my dad reached for the last rib, that guy practically _assaulted _him! All for one stupid rib!"

We all laughed at that, but of course, Shiori just had to add, "At least you got to eat for _free_. We had to actually pay our way…"

Hinata frowned. "W-What happened to Jun treating you guys? I-I thought-"

"Well, she _was_," I mumbled. "You know, before there was some big important ANBU elite emergency that left me with, let's see…uhh…nada. How much you still got, Shiori?"

Shiori sighed forlornly. "I'm practically broke too… And I didn't even think of bringing more of what I had saved, thinking that Jun _would_ pay…"

"Wait, that ANBU emergency…would it by any chance have to do with Mizuki tricking Naruto into stealing the Scroll of Sealing?" Mariko murmured. "I heard something like that from my cousin—he was in one of the squads sent out to return the Scroll to Hokage Tower."

"Mizuki—what? No way!" A sensei fooling a mere student into doing something as unthinkable as that…it just couldn't be…and the fact that anyone sworn into training Konoha's future generation could be as evil as that, and still manage to slip past the system, was certainly a disconcerting thought…

Hinata's opaque pearl eyes bugged, and she paled. The poor Hyuga heiress barely managed to stammer a concerned, "I-I hope N-Naruto is alright…"

"I heard that they caught Mizuki though, and that the scroll's been returned. Apparently, everything's fine now," Mariko added hurriedly, hoping to reassure Hinata. "Naruto's probably pointing at Mizuki's cell in the Strict Correctional Facility and laughing as we speak." That last bit, at least, seemed to cheer Hinata up a bit, as a small smile hovered over her pale complexion for a moment.

"I knew that guy was a creep," Shiori muttered.

I frowned, misunderstanding. "What do you mean by that? He seemed friendly enough to me…"

Shiori smiled and rolled her eyes. "That's because you're just that oblivious aren't you?"

"Yep!" I agreed, cheery as can be. The others laughed and then we started on the road, realizing we'd be late if we didn't get a move on soon.

* * *

The long line of genin was just starting its procession to the top of Hokage Tower when we arrived, the last few stragglers of the pack. When they realized how long we'd be stuck waiting there at the back of the line, I just gave them all a broad smile, as if to say, _"Sorry I was late getting ready…again. But thanks for waiting for me!" _

So I agreed to stand last in line.

"So…there sure are a lot of genin here, huh? How many were in our class again?" Mariko wondered aloud, straining to get up on her tiptoes to see above our classmates' heads.

"Twenty-seven," Shiori replied.

"T-Twenty-six," Hinata corrected shyly, bringing her finger up to her lip. We all turned to look at her, and Hinata's pale face flushed some color into it. "Th-There would only be twenty-six here, remember? Naruto…N-Naruto was…"

"Oh," was all I could say. That's right, Naruto had been…

"Poor Naruto…" Shiori sighed, empathetic as always. "I feel so bad for him…I mean…"

"Yeah," Mariko's eyes saddened. "He's probably the only one to have ever failed it that many times and…"

"I'm sure if he were here," Shiori continued, "he'd—"

"I'D TELL OFF ALL YOU GUYS FOR DOUBTING ME! BECAUSE I _DID_ GRADUATE AND I _AM _A NINJA, SO _HA_! BELIEVE IT!"

Mariko's eyes widened in disbelief as Naruto seemingly appeared out of nowhere, proud and clueless as can be. Glaring at the loud-mouthed boy with bright yellow hair, she roared, "YOU ARE SUCH AN _IDIOT _SOMETIMES, NARUTO!"

Shiori smiled uneasily.

Now, the fact that Naruto was being his loud and obnoxious usual self and declaring that he actually _had _passed was unexpected enough. But he'd also… painted his face—at least, I _hope _it was just paint—white, with red marks all over, and the same with his palms. He looked like some type of moronic clown.

Other people in the line turned around or craned their necks to gawk at us—in particular an eye rolling, somewhat schizophrenic Sakura Haruno. Seriously, who the hell did that girl think she was talking to? I also could've sworn I saw Ino muttering something under her breath, and Sasuke mumbling "What a loser…"

Hinata… uh, well, she sort of…

"HINATA!" the four of us all cried out in unison

Hinata fainted, but luckily, we all reacted in time to catch her.

And me, well...

"If you really _did_ graduate, then where's your headband, you know, for official proof?" I pointed to my own, which still hung around my neck.

Naruto looked somewhat hurt at that, fidgeting with the pair of green goggles he still sported. "I'm saving it, you know…so I don't ruin it," he replied defensively.

It…wasn't the sort of answer I expected. Naruto was renowned for not really caring about anything at all. He just takes what comes his way and acts like he doesn't mind how everyone in the village looks down on him at all. In fact, in class, his esteemed position of dead last in student ranking was rivaled only by Shikamaru Nara, who currently held a record as the guy to sleep through the most tests and pass. So why should something like the safety of a dumb headband merit his concern?

"Naruto, how were things yesterday? We heard something happened with that creep Mizuki. Are you okay?" Shiori inquired, wondering how accurate Mariko's story had been.

Apparently, Naruto wasn't going to miss his chance to impress. With an annoyingly high-pitched voice, he then proceeded to weave a tale of how the great, lone Uzumaki exposed the traitorous evil sensei's trickery and saved Iruka-sensei from certain peril and immanent death. There were loads of Hokage allusions made to Naruto, over a hundred unbeatable shadow clones—yeah, right! I'd heard Naruto had only managed to produce one simple replication during examination day, and that it _died_, too—with of course numerous shouts of "Believe it!" thrown in for effect. Lastly, there came the fairy tale "Happily Ever After" ending where our own brave hometown hero Naruto was actually knighted a ninja after all…yeah…let's just say that I _didn't _"believe it."

No one really knew how to respond to that, so for the most part, we kind of just smiled and said nothing, though I muttered a rather awkward, "Congratulations, I guess…"

The line moved on, all of us attempting to carry the cumbersome Hyuga heiress in her unconscious state. Thankfully, her eyelids fluttered and she shot upright about five minutes later. She congratulated Naruto on having managed to graduate after all, her usually pale face blushing madly all the while. With the sly smile of a fox, a chuckle, and a thumbs up, he told Hinata in return that he'd be the greatest ninja the world had ever seen! BELIEVE IT!

The rest of the time we all spent discussing what genin orientation would be like tomorrow. My cousin Kazuhiro had given me plenty of horror stories about his genin orientation, but then, considering that the level of gruesome details and carnage varied with each telling of the story, I assumed it was all a pack of lies.

A few more students passed into the next room to have their photo taken, and not long after, we were all next in line. I recall fussing with my braids some more. Then, with a "picture perfect" smile plastered on my face, the photographer cloaked himself underneath the camera's curtain, a was button pressed, there was a blinding flash, and the records whose contents would eventually control my entire life were handed to me in a small manila envelope, and that was it.

* * *

Unfortunately, after hand delivering my official Leaf nin records to the Hokage himself—a sincere, wrinkly old man with a straggly white beard that probably could've passed as my great-grandfather—it occurred to me that my friends all had someplace to go. Hinata reluctantly admitted to having prior engagements with other highly esteemed upper branch members of the Hyuga clan to keep. So after taking her time to shy away from the camera and recovering from being dazzled into a daze by the light bulb flash, she hurried back to her clan. Similarly, Mariko groaned and moaned about her parents wanting to have the "Career Talk" again. That is, if Mariko for some reason chose not to become a ninja, her parents wanted to let her know that the option to take up the family business of the blacksmith was always available to her. Not that she had seemed to care for that sort of thing. Lastly, Shiori reminded me that Jun hadn't been home in a year or so, and she wanted to spend as much time with the elite ANBU Black Op as possible while she still could, as well as chastising her for the ramen incident; after all, ANBU could be called away by the Hokage at the drop of a hat—something that I myself knew all too well.

So, after my friends had politely excused themselves, and I had left an idiotic Naruto to be chastised by the Third, I simply wandered aimlessly around the hustle bustle streets of Konoha, hoping to find something, _anything _to do.

Konoha's streets are pleasant enough to explore when you have the chance, though—that is, if you're the sort of person that's into the whole skyscraping buildings, cacophony of noise, and don't at all mind the milling crowds of thronging people shuffling this way and that. Yamanaka are very keen on picking up at people's thoughts, and at times like these, that sort of ability was a real pain in the neck. To have a thousand thoughts screaming all at once in your ears can be quite a bother, even though tuning them out isn't all that hard, and you can barely understand what you're hearing half the time anyway. We couldn't hear others' thoughts—especially those of civilians—anywhere near as well as we could sense those of other Yamanaka, but still, all those people's consciousnesses merging together into one great noise can even grow to a kind of dull roar at times. And at the moment, I just wanted to escape all these overwhelming distractions. I was going to be an official genin tomorrow, after all, and I should at least find an isolated, peaceful place to get in some practice while I still had the chance. Breaking free of the pack of clambering passersby, I dashed off in the direction of the most serene and silent place I could think of; it was perfect for privacy and solo practice.

That's one of the reasons why I liked to retreat to the Uchiha compound when I happened to get the chance to be alone.

* * *

Truthfully, before it was… abandoned, I'd only been here on rare visits with my mother, Akira Uchiha. Still, that was when these streets were busy and bustling and alive, like the main roads of Konoha. But ever since all its life and hustle bustle noise and laughter was silenced in a single night, the area had never been the same, and never able to recover. The complex itself seemed to be forever frozen in a perpetual state of dying; dust and debris coated all the buildings, nearly every single window you saw was boarded up, and a couple of houses on every block were either collapsed in on themselves or torn down.

It was saddening to me that the streets of the Uchiha compound had long since been abandoned. Any manner of upkeep went downhill directly after the massacre; after all, it only had a population of one living there now. And while Sasuke's apartment was supposedly a very lavish place, one fitting for the heir of a mighty clan, the rest of the compound had decayed into ruin. A few stray kunai still littered the streets, and some bloodstains were claimed to have never washed away. While it wasn't strictly forbidden to enter the Uchiha compound, the public felt it was generally best to…avoid it, forget such a marvelous place even existed. It was considered taboo by many to set foot past those menacing gates into these haunting roads, like the ghosts of all the past Uchiha still lingered and people were afraid of angering them. I took personal offence at how the Hidden Leaf, for the most part, simply ignored the place and left it to rot, like trying to wipe away a bad memory. The Uchiha clan's haven deserved some proper care, for all the troubles its people had been through; instead, it was like a ghost town. I bet people only enter this place anymore on dares.

Still, I made an effort to come here whenever I had the chance to be on my own—around once a week or so.

I walked through the familiar, deadened streets of the lost clan, slowly making my way to the small dock over Nagano River. I liked to practice my Fire Style here best; it was always good for some meditative solitude too—not that I was really too into that sort of thing myself, but still, everyone wants to be alone and get some space at times.

But just as the Nagano River came into view, I realized that it wasn't deserted as it usually was—Sasuke Uchiha stood on the small wooden platform, making a series of hands signs that I knew all too well. Not wanting to bother him, I stayed in the shadows of the deserted buildings and mimicked the signs with him—Horse, Tiger (though he opted to use Snake, as both signs are interchangeable here), Ram, Monkey, Boar, Horse, and Tiger again—these were the hand signs for the Fire Style: Fireball Jutsu technique of the Uchiha clan.

I didn't really expect Sasuke to manage to do anything, but sure enough, through the ring his right thumb and index finer formed, the young heir breathed out a slow and steady flow of scarlet flames, which fanned out over the water, illuminating the Nagano an almost surreal shade of bloody scarlet.

I was petrified by the sight. Ever since I could remember, I'd been trying to master this one single technique. My Uchiha mother, Akira, had demonstrated all the necessary hand signs and repeated the directions over and over again when I was little, in hopes of not letting her Uchiha past wear away. Because of that, I eventually got the right moves engraved in my mind, but even now, I could scarcely muster more than a few matchstick sized wisps of flame. Most often, though, I would merely collapse in a heap, coughing up a terrible fit of smoke.

I even remember reading somewhere once in a manual of Fire Style Jutsu that the Fire Style: Fireball Jutsu technique "…is one that requires above average chakra reserves, and consequently, most genin will not be able to demonstrate any discipline of this jutsu."

And here that "Uchiha genius" was, such a prodigy, already having perfected the clan's favorite technique. Now, I might not have been so upset over this if it was _any other_ jutsu in the entire world. But it wasn't. It was _that _jutsu—the technique that signified an Uchiha's coming of age. And _he'd _mastered it, and I hadn't. He was a proper Uchiha heir and I was just some kid.

He's probably been born with Sharingan too, that perfect little prodigy.

I worked at that jutsu every free chance I got. Unfortunately, my mother had passed on before she could instruct me in it properly, while Sasuke must've had the luxury of an entirely Uchiha family to give him pointers on it. He'd grown up in the clan, so really, what should I expect? It was natural for someone that's only partially Uchiha to be running a little slow at their techniques, but still…

I didn't linger to see him perform the jutsu a second time, though.

Disappointed in myself, I backed away, deeper into the compound, turning to leave before—"What are you doing here?" the voice came out in what seemed like an emotionless monotone, but was quite clearly edged with steeled hatred; the speaker didn't bother to hide the underlining, threatening intimidation of his tone.

An Uchiha's tone.

It took me a moment to take in the fact that, not only was Sasuke aware that I'd probably seen his Fireball technique, but also, that my being within the compound—in "his" territory—might not be something he would take too kindly.

Turning back to face his soulless black eyes—the boy looked pale and cold enough to be a ghost of the Uchiha himself, I noted—I simply shrugged and said, "Practicing. Same as you."

"An odd place to come and practice," he mused.

"Perhaps," I conceded. Then, tone even, I continued, "I come here to train whenever I get the chance—usually once a week or so. You're hardly here at all, so what's the harm?"

His eyes narrowed to the size of snake slits. "Get out before I lose my patience with you."

"Fine, no need to be so serious about it," I muttered, rolling my eyes. "But how about you show me how to perfect my Fireball Jutsu, huh? Be a good clansman and all…"

"I don't see why an outsider—"

"HEY! I'm in this clan too, you idiot! And if you're looking for a fight, then fine, you've got one!" Without thinking, I stupidly tried to punch him—him, the Uchiha genius, the unparalleled genin of enormous skill who I was clearly no match for. Hell, why am I such an idiot sometimes?

Raven black eyes were suddenly set alight. And before I knew it, he'd blocked me like it was nothing, and then I was dodging some basic taijutsu moves. I soon found myself calculating the right times to avoid standard genin level—straightforward, no tricks—plain old punches and kicks. Unfortunately, I was rather inept at taijutsu, so I just contented myself with blocking and avoiding him, all the while reflecting on how stupid starting a fight with someone like him was.

He wasn't trying to burn me to a crisp with his Fireball Jutsu, so it seemed to me like it would be cheating to employ any genjutsu to mess with his mind. No, better to just keep the fight strictly taijutsu—no telling what he'd do to me otherwise; I'd heard his ninjutsu was unmatched by all the other genin, and I really didn't want to find out if there was any truth behind that at the moment…

About five minutes later I signaled a timeout, which caused that annoyed imbecile to halt midway through a kick, his leg hanging waist high in the air. "Well?" he grunted, annoyed to have been interrupted in the middle of beating me.

"How about a deal, if I win this fight, then you teach me that Fireball Jutsu? And if I lose, then I'll just leave and never come back."

He must've really liked the idea, because a second later, he'd stopped with the taijutsu assault, and I saw those horribly familiar hand signs again—Horse, Snake, Ram, Monkey, Boar, Horse, Tiger, and—"Fire Style: Fireball Jutsu!" he yelled, but before he'd even gotten on his second hand sign, I knew what he was going to do, and I was prepared for it. I responded with the Snake and Rat hand signs, followed by the hushed whisper of "Demonic Illusion: Hell Viewing Technique," a jutsu that my dad taught me about a year or so ago. Because I had anticipated Sasuke's attack just as he made his first hand sign, and mine took a lot less hand signs than his, the Hell Viewing Technique took effect before Sasuke could even say Fireball Jutsu.

I watched the young Uchiha heir's eyes widen as he suddenly became disoriented, no doubt seeing the imaginary leaves spinning all around him, a sign that the genjutsu was setting in. The basic idea of the technique was to show your opponent their greatest fear, hence the term "Hell Viewing" Technique. I was about to create the illusion based on one of his past memories, but there was only one fear, one painful moment that seemed to exist in Sasuke's mind—and that was the night of the massacre. I refused to torment him with that haunting memory though, so I decided on dispelling the genjutsu altogether. But being for the briefest moments under my influence alone made him seem to go out of it for a bit, and it took a couple of head shakes before he managed to snap back to reality.

"Genjutsu, am I right? Just simple mind tricks," he muttered.

That really ticked me off. How can he just dismiss all the hard work it took me to learn a technique like that? I mean, sure, it was a D-rank jutsu, but come on! It was still a good genjutsu technique. And I'd never actually created the illusion, so I wasn't sure whether or not he could've actually seen through the genjutsu, but still…I should've just had fun torturing him with that memory after all…

Scowling, I said in a level tone, "Fine, whatever. If you say you're great enough to have been able to dispel it, then fine. You win, I forfeit. Besides, I've got better things to do than waste my time training with a blockhead like you."

So saying, I headed home, unable to help but feel immensely sorry for the abandoned place and its one and only, hollow, emotionless occupant—but then, maybe I just felt sorry for him because his looks always reminded of someone…

* * *

_The next day…_

Heaving a deep, melodramatic sigh, in the light of the early morning rays of sunshine, I set the broom to the filthiest streets all over Konoha. _Well, it's now or never_, I thought, nose scrunched up in disgust. Normally, I would never have the discipline nor the willpower and patience for this sort of thing. But the thought of the Uchiha compound being a dead, emptied out shell run by a single, bratty and spoiled little heir who thought he was its master simply wasn't happening, not if I could stop it. Determination surging through me, burning bright in my eyes, I raced across and all over the deadened, silenced streets. I was sprinting the whole while, my groggy body suddenly fueled with resolve. That considered, the sweeping probably wasn't really doing that much, at least, not at the pace I was moving. But still, really, it's the thought that counts, right?

I was nearly enjoying myself, imagining how each stroke of the broom breathed a bit more life back into the skeletal, abandoned compound. But then, of course, good things never last. It wasn't long before the uppermost window on a relatively well maintained looking apartment flew open, and the peeved prince himself stuck out his ghostly hedgehog head to greet me.

"What the hell are you doing here? I told you to leave! GET OFF MY PROPERTY, YOU _LOSER_!"

"Good morning to you too, Sasuke-teme!" I called out cheerfully, giving him a mock salute and putting on my merriest smile. "You're a lousy housekeeper. This place is a mess! Ever heard of spring cleaning? Or even cleaning in general? You're a real twit sometimes, you know that?"

"Hitomi," he groaned real laboriously, like just forcing himself to look at me was an immense effort. "What will it take to get you to leave?"

"Well, maybe if _somebody _helped me with my Fire Style jutsu!" I called up to him.

Teme groaned, and the windows closed. I nonchalantly went back to my sweeping, half expecting him to just lock all his doors and then go back to bed. So I was pleasantly surprised to find him come out right through the front door—glaring at me, of course, but still, he came.

"What is it you want again?" he muttered, teeth clenched.

"Hey, pal, you're living in an environmental hazard here. I'm making it so that you don't die from some type of mold or too much intake of dust mites or whatever the heck's started growing over the past six or so years while you sat on your lazy butt. Don't I at least get a 'Thank you, Hitomi.' Or what about an 'How can I ever repay you, Hitomi?' Maybe even a 'Oh wow! Thanks for bothering to care about my pale and demented vampirey self! Why do I always act like such a pain to you again?'"

Sasuke was less then pleased to hear that; his frown lines deepened, eyes going colder, like he was debating whether or not to chase me the hell out right then and there.

"Now, are you going to teach me the Fire style: Fireball Jutsu or what?"

Sasuke considered me for a moment, and then asked, "Why are you here? You didn't do all of this just for me, I'm guessing."

"No, I would never do something like _cleaning _just for sucking up to someone. You know, I do have a bit more of a life than that."

The younger Uchiha heir looked me over once again, directing another cool, calculating stare right at me. "I repeat, what are you here for then?" It almost sounded like there was some sort of scorn in his voice; apparently, the Uchiha couldn't maintain his monotone drawl all through the day. Although, at the moment, I think I might've just preferred the Uchiha's usual, robotic and stoic self.

"That's really none of your concern. Now, are you going to teach me the jutsu or what, huh?"

His head tilted to the side slightly. "Aren't you going to be late for something?" he asked, adopting his monotone once again.

My eyeballs bugged. Oh man. Today was genin orientation at the Academy! How could I forget! Had I completely lost track of the time or could I still make it?

That sent me dashing back to Konoha, leaving the broom behind and yelling back as loud as I could, "DON'T FORGET! YOU OWE ME A LESSON IN THAT FIRE JUTSU! YOU OWE ME, YOU HEAR?"

I could've sworn I heard an unemotional, somewhat detached voice murmur, "So annoying…" but then, maybe I was only imagining it.

* * *

Race up the stairs, fling open the doors, dive-bomb onto my desk—SAFE! Sensei wasn't here yet! _YES! HE WASN'T HERE YET! I'D MADE IT!_

I'd…made…I'd…wait…sensei wasn't here yet…and at the same time, neither was anyone else…

I sweatdropped.

"WHERE THE HELL _IS_ EVERYBODY!" I erupted, head banging on the desk.

_Do I dare look at the clock…? _Hesitantly, and with a gulp, I did so.

A moment later…

"AHHHH! I'M AN HOUR EARLY, ARE YOU KIDDING ME!" I wailed. "Sasuke, you jerk, so help me, I'll get you for this!"

_I was wrong_, I thought bitterly. _That teme doesn't remind me of **him** at all; they look nothing alike and they're completely different... _It was almost subconscious of me to reach for the Police Force bandanna's knot and tighten it as the thought of **him **came up. _Oh, and teme, just you wait, when I get back at you..._

Not knowing what else to do, I did what any other Uchiha would've done—sat down in my seat, swore vengeance, and got some extra sleep.

* * *

I must've had an exceptionally horrifying nightmare, because the next thing I knew, I woke up yelling "CRETIN!" with an arm spasm—unfortunately for a genin named Raiden Nagahara, I just so happened to arm spasm right into him while he was walking past my desk.

The boy, Raiden, was wearing those bandage wrappings all over the top of his scalp and forehead, though his brand new Hidden Lead headband and a couple of stray swamp green bangs managed to poke out from underneath the gauze, which continued down to part of the lower half of his face, although most of it was left exposed. He looked like a mummy with all that bandaging though; not that I really blame him for it. If I had hair as disgustingly murky green as swamp water, I wouldn't want people gawking at it either…also, all that bandaging probably served as pretty good padding for when I hit him.

Raiden's viridian eyes narrowed, and he yelled something at me in annoyance. I didn't bother paying him much attention though; he was just one of those random, easily forgettable guys in class.

Besides, I was too preoccupied with the fact that other genin were finally starting to file into the classroom, from our class and from a few others as well; the lone _teme_ himself among them.

"Hey! Look at me when I'm talking to you!" Raiden shouted, getting in my face. You could tell he was trying to be intimidating, though his tone sounded more like a pathetically squealing piglet if you ask me.

Ignoring the mummified swamp green hue freak, I raced straight to the Uchiha's desk. Unfortunately, it was already barricaded by fangirls.

A flirtatious Sakura Haruno was first in line, smacking both me and poor, ever-victimized Naruto out of her way when we approached the teme's desk. She didn't even apologize, just hissed a threatening, "Move it!" and swatted us aside like flies. Moaning, I propped myself up off the floor on my elbows and treated her to my best Uchiha death glare. _That schizophrenic, bubbly pink…_

But of course, oblivious to everyone but the Gothic light of her world, she stood there all blushing and hopeful in front of that dunce. "Uh…good morning, Sasuke. Mind if I sit next to you?" her voice sounded all sweet and shy, as if she were deferring to him or something. Such an insufferable voice to have to hear…

I groaned when she finished. At least Hinata and Naruto were kinda cute together. The thought of Sakura obsessing over this guy just made me sick.

Then, out of nowhere, that Yamanaka pig Ino snatched Sakura's arm and then growled, "Back off, Forehead!"

Wow, interrupted by a Sasuke fangirl _again_. These people really do have the worst manner…

"_I _was here first," Sakura countered.

Like a whiny child, Ino went on to complain, "_I_ walked into the classroom before _you_ did! Everybody saw it!"

But, of course, Sakura would never let her have the last word.

"Dream on!" the pinkette scoffed, glaring daggers at the light blonde.

Then, of course, more and more girls flocked to him and my patience only deteriorated as time went on…

"_I _got here before _either _of you!"

"So did I! _I'm _sitting next to Sasuke…"

"No, I am!"

Sasuke, Sasuke, stupid Sasuke…

And of course, it didn't help that he was a genius either. A prodigy. Everybody's always talking about him. He was like the kind of guy that you could imagine the Hokage himself gazing at in awe through a crystal ball or some cheesy thing like that.

Rolling my eyes at them, I redirected my attention to Naruto. "Hey there, Uzumaki, you okay?"

"Yeah," he grunted, glowering sky blue eyes suddenly looking demonic as they narrowed at the other Uchiha. "Fine."

I helped him to his feet, and was about to give both Sasuke and Sakura a piece of my mind, but Naruto had beaten me to it. He literally leapt right on top of Sasuke's desk and squatted there glaring at Sasuke like an angry little monkey.

Focusing on penetrating Sasuke's mind, I smiled to myself at the other Uchiha's discomfort; apparently, he was freaking out inside about having some weirdo sitting in such close approximation to him.

Sasuke: _What is this loser doing on my desk! SOMEONE GET THIS GUY THE HELL AWAY FROM ME! Can't those fangirls be useful for once and detain him or something?_

Naruto wasn't pleased either.

Naruto: _Sasuke, Sasuke, Sasuke…what do they all see in him?_

The obnoxious loudmouth leaned in closer, and the two eternal rivals glared daggers at one another.

Until…

"Ha! Man! This is the greatest," the guy sitting just in front of them called out—but his elbow slipped, and he quickly apologized with a casual, "Oh, sorry—did I bump you?" Of course, that's what had happened. Unfortunately, he'd hit Naruto…Naruto, whose face was just inches from Sasuke's…it bumped the two of them closer together…and…well…

I thought I was going to die; just faint Hinata style or die. So I averted my eyes as quickly as I could.

Several of the girls let out wails of dismay, all the guys either snickered or howled in laughter, some random female student proclaimed, "YOU'RE DEAD, UZUMAKI!" and I half felt the need to just vomit…

Of course, it was naturally very humiliating and scarring for life and all, but still, that moron got what he deserved as far as I was concerned. _That's karma for you—always coming through_, I thought, suddenly feeling a lot more optimistic that day.

Turning around, I found that Shiori and Mariko both had these very disturbed looks on their faces; thankfully, Hinata was busy daydreaming about, "N-Naruto…" so she hadn't noticed yet. _Phew!_ I'd have felt really bad if she was unfortunate enough to faint two times in as many days…

We were too busy being all disturbed and emotionally scarred for life to notice the fangirls beating up Naruto for making a fool out of Sasuke. In fact, it wasn't until after the sensei walked in and called us all to sit back in our seats that I noticed the swelling purple lumps on the nose bleeding, physically tortured Uzumaki.

I felt sorry for him, but then, there was nothing that I could really do to help him out anyway.

That's when Iruka began his generic "Congratulations and good luck with all the challenges of life!" Sensei speech: "Today, you are all ninja. You have all faced difficult trials and hardships. But that's nothing. What comes next will be far more difficult. Now you are only genin, first level ninja. All the genin will be grouped into three-man squads. Each squad will be led by a jonin, an elite ninja."

Blah, blah…congratulations, but now we've only got worse things headed our way…yeah, just great, exactly what we've all wanted to hear…and…WAIT…three-man squads? We're going to be in teams? I stole a glance back at the other Uchiha and his fangirls. _Please_, I prayed, _make it anyone but them on my team…_anyone_ else…_

Sasuke made a noise that half sounded like "Ah…" and half like "Hn…" but whatever the hell it meant, you could definitely tell the guy was annoyed.

Iruka smiled at us all and redirected his attention to a piece of paper in his hands. "We want each squad to have a balanced set of skills and abilities, so that's how we set them up. I will now announce the squads …"

Squad 1 was assigned, and then Squads 2 and 3…and I began to notice a pattern. Each squad had exactly two boys and one girl. No two girl or three boy squads or anything like that. I groaned, because the thought of being with any of those dopey males in my year was a pretty aggravating thought.

Mariko was assigned to Squad 4, with two guys whose last names she probably didn't even know—and, quite understandably, she didn't at all look pleased with her situation.

Unfortunately, my predicament wasn't looking any better. Why? Squads 1, 2, 3, and 4 had already been assigned—and none contained the dreaded pinkette, the outrageous loudmouth, or the demonic child of Hell. My chances of being paired with one of them rose exponentially with every team to be spared that horribly unbearable fate. I sank lower and lower into my chair with each name Iruka-sensei called that wasn't mine or theirs. Teams 5 and 6 were assigned, and still, not one of them was grouped yet. I started calculating the numbers of students in our class and the few of the other classes in my head, trying to figure out how many teams there'd be—and how many chances to not be stuck with one of them I had left.

And that's when: "Squad 7," Iruka announced. "Naruto Uzumaki," Naruto lifted his head from his cheek at that, finally listening to his sensei for once, "Sakura Haruno," the pinkette's face fell and she made some type of dismal, incoherent noise. Meanwhile, both Naruto's arms shot into the air as he stood up and cheered; he thought being on her team was some sort of victory, didn't he? That poor, clueless, victimized Uzumaki…

Watching Sakura hang her head as she gave a forlorn sigh of "I'm doomed…" gave me quite a bit of satisfaction, though.

But sensei apparently wasn't done making this day perfect yet.

"And Sasuke Uchiha!" Iruka finished.

Now the tables were turned; Sakura cheered, while Naruto's bowed head just managed to sadly mumble, "I'm doomed…" And Sasuke…well…no reaction outright, but when I penetrated the stoic boy's mind, I found there was quite a bit of emotion he was hiding.

Sasuke: _I'm with the dead last class clown and a girl that's more interested in flirting than training. She'll probably cry the first time that she breaks a nail or something…I'M DOOOOOMMMMEEEDD!_

I chucked darkly to myself at that.

Next, Iruka announced Squad 8—and, wow, this day just keeps getting better and better! Ino-pig got paired with that sexist, lazy, Shikamaru the Chauvinist and his friend, Chip Devouring Choji, who was currently pigging out on his fourth bag that morning.

When Iruka announced squad 10, I gave Hinata a sympathetic look, while she just shrugged at her predicament. How anyone can be so quiet about being paired with Kiba—though his doggie was just the cutest puppy in all the world, and I always felt compelled to pull him right out of Kiba's jacket and hug him—and that kid who sat next to me, the quiet—but surely deadly—Shino, is just beyond me. But then, Hinata was never one to complain.

"Lastly, Squad 11," Iruka's words startled me—_lastly_, he'd said? That means, whoever hadn't already been grouped, that would be my team. I ran through the list of names already called in my head and realized when Shiori smiled at me that she hadn't been put in a team either. But no, all the other teams were boy-girl-boy. Surely it was too good to be true to possibly ever hope that… "Shiori Kuroshima," No, there was just no way that… "Hitomi Yamanaka," I was about to throw my hands up into the air and yell out a boisterous, "BANZAI!" I was so disbelieving at my good luck, but of course, sensei just had to ruin it with, "and Raiden Nagahara. That's all the squad—"

"Sensei! There's got to be some sort of mistake…"

Papers shuffled, chairs scooted back, and all the students adjusted themselves to get a better view of the genin that had cried out his objection. It was the same boy that was last to be grouped, the same boy I'd accidentally punched in the face earlier—and Raiden Nagahara had that same contorted-in-rage consternation as before.

The bandaged boy threw me such a look of seething hatred. It looked like he wanted to rip my head off. Then he had the nerve to point his grimy little accusing finger at me and declare, "All the other teams in the class consisted of two boys and one girl. I will _not _suffer the humiliation of being the only guy on a team with _two_ girls! least of all on a double-kunoichi team with someone like _her!_"

I tried to think back to all the bad things that I could've done to the guy…

* * *

"_No! Late for class again! Iruka's gonna kill me!" Not bothering to watch where I was going, I pushed aside that kid with the mummified forehead, causing him to fall backwards down several steps, maybe more. I would've stopped to help him up, honest, but hey, I would've only been even later…

* * *

_

_There was no one looking. Finally, I had my chance._

_The mission: a dare, find out what the guy's hiding that's so important, it's always kept under wraps._

_Attentively, I reached up to the two long gauze strands that hung down to the boy's shoulders behind him. He stood in front of me on the line Iruka-sensei had warned us to wait in and stay out of trouble while he went off to find Naruto, Shikamaru, Choji, and Kiba—all of whom were skipping class again. Confidant that sensei wouldn't return before I could get my chance, I took a gentle hold of the twin strips of gauze. I was careful not to pull on them and alert the boy, whose full attention was intently focused on the panels of his manga. He didn't even notice that I was slowly undoing the knot of his bandages, the rest of the class craning their heads to sneak a peek at what lie hidden under the wrappings. _

_Mission status: success! _

_But then he leaned forward, disbelieving at the death scene in the last panel of the final page. _

"_Nooooo!" he moaned, and he jumped back in shock, causing me to stumble backwards and yank back on the strips of gauze, which in turn snapped his head back—real far back at a real fast rate and real hard too, turning his "Noooo!" into something like "NoooooOOOOOWWWwww! HITOMI!"

* * *

_

"_Alright," Iruka-sensei glanced at me. "Raiden, why don't you spar with Hitomi? Unfortunately, we have an uneven number of girls and boys, so…"_

_Raiden groaned. "Why do I have to spar with a _girl_? I'll just win easy anyway. And besides, it's below my dignity…"_

_I couldn't help but take serious offense at that. I really hated guys sometimes and in particular had no patience for the ones with an appalling cause of superiority complex. _

_Without thinking, I walked right up to him and faked a smile. "I'd love to spar with you, Raiden," I said all nice and sweet, like I'd seen other girls do when they talked to Sasuke. _

_Iruka beamed at me, and, silently thanking me for not making a fuss about it, left to check on how the other pairs were doing. _

_Without giving Raiden time to object again, I sucker punched him across the face, hit him in the stomach, kicked him in the shin, and then, still smiling and speaking in a soft, sweet way, I said, "You know, you're right—it really is for the best that sensei pair you up with another boy. After all, I'll just win easy again. Besides, I wouldn't want to seriously hurt you or anything…"

* * *

_

"_Hitomi! I'll get you for that! Hitomi! Hey! Get back here and listen to me!"

* * *

_

"_Hitomi!"

* * *

_

"_HITOMI!"

* * *

_

But, no matter how hard I thought about it, I simply couldn't remember what I possibly could've done in a million years to get on the guy's bad side…

"Look, I don't care if I have to retake the graduation exam or if you have to put with me another class or whatever, fine. I'd rather be held back than have to be on a team with a bunch of girls," Raiden shouted, his voice acrimonious.

Alright, now I've had it.

Iruka-sensei paled. You could tell the guy was having trouble figuring out a response, so I did it for him. Standing up, I pushed in my chair, ignoring sensei's call of, "Hitomi! Please, be seated…" and, tightening the knot on my Uchiha Police Force bandanna, marched right up to Raiden's desk. On my way there Hinata gave me a worried side-glance as if to say, "Don't do anything stupid." I also heard Mariko mutter something under her breath that sounded like, "Typical sexist, moronic male…" and then lastly, I caught Shiori's gaze, who raised her eyebrow, which I could see clearly meant, "You're not seriously gonna…are you?" And when I reached Raiden's desk, I looked him dead in the eye.

"Well?" Raiden demanded.

A challenge.

I don't back down from a challenge.

That's when I did something that made half the class laugh and the other half gasp like I'd just committed some sort of unspeakable act.

Right in front of Iruka-sensei and everyone else, I slapped that mummified moron right upside the head.

* * *

[Hitomi: "Hahahaha! Remember that, Shiori?"]

**Yep. There was a look of pure rage in your eyes.**

[Raiden: "I still can't believe that you had the nerve to do that. YOU ARE SO INFURIATING!]

[Hitomi: (ignores) "Whatever. It should've been Sasuke."]

**Say, Raiden? What _is_ under those bandages?**

[Raiden: (grasps head) "It's nothing important."]

[Hitomi: (launches towards Raiden) "I'LL FIND OUT, FOR SURE!"

**[Holds back by shoulder] No, you won't. Later on, in another chapter, we'll try and find out. Okay?**

[Hitomi: "I'll be waiting for it! BELIEVE IT!"]

[Naruto: "HEY!"]

_

* * *

_

___*Authoresses(?) Comments*_

_Okay, this was my first ever Fanfiction chapter ever written, so please try to bear with me. _

_Review and all your dreams will come true!_

[Raiden: "That's false advertising."]

[Hitomi: "Shut up."]

_Hope you enjoyed, and don't forget to review! Chapter 3 should be up by next week and thank you for reading! :)_

_Also, check out our profile to links to our deviantART accounts, where we have some pictures of Hitomi and Shiori, with more of other characters to come.  
_

_-Lucky the Leprechaun (Hitomi)_

_ALSO, NO OFFENSE TO BLONDES! It was only a way of describing Naruto and Ino... Even though Ino _is_ a pathetic little twit...__  
_

_-Melpomene Black (Shiori)_


	3. Chapter 3

**AFTER LONG LAST, CHAPTER THREE IS UP!**

**It's a Shiori chapter, and my deepest apologies for the delay. Plus, Fanfiction wouldn't let us upload Sunday!  
**

**More info at the bottom if you want to know how to upload and avoid the Error Type 2 message most authors have been getting...  
**

**Enjoy!**

**And by the way, our new sensei's in this chapter. He might bear… a certain resemblance to someone we both ironically hate if you're an anime/manga fan of this certain series…**

**If by some chance you can guess it, feel free to comment!**

**Disclaimer: NO. Yes, I wish, but NO.**

**Note: There are a quite a few pieces near the end in 3rd Person Omniscient POV, mostly revolving around our new jonin sensei. It might be a bit confusing at first, but you'll realize when you see it. Most probably, if there are ever any major "battle" scenes, they'll be in 3rd Omniscient. We can't just relay the details from one person, now can we? We might get another story similar to the "tale of how the great, lone Uzumaki exposed the traitorous evil sensei's trickery and saved Iruka-sensei from certain peril and immanent death"!**

[Naruto: "IT WAS TRUE!"]

[Hitomi: "Yeah, right, Naruto! Without Iruka-sensei, you would've died!"]

* * *

_Recap: Trouble's a brewing in the Academy! Hitomi Yamanaka has just full on SLAPPED Raiden Nagahara in the face for complaining about being in a double-kunoichi squad!  
_

Chapter Three

My eye twitched.

The classroom was silent as the sound of a slap echoed.

Then several snickers, gasps, and giggles rang out.

Hitomi was standing in front of Raiden's desk, with a smug look of satisfaction on her face, while Raiden sat there, dumbfounded, with a huge red blotch on his cheek. He was speechless for a moment, as if he couldn't hear all the students in the room whispering and cackling.

Iruka-sensei was white in the face. He barely managed to get out a few words, and was sweating profusely.

"Hitomi… p-please… just, sit down…."

Raiden was wide-eyed, staring down at his desk with his mouth slightly open. But when Hitomi started to walk back to her desk, he jolted upright out of his seat.

"IRUKA-SENSEI! YOU CAN'T EXPECT ME TO STAY IN THIS GROUP! YOU JUST WITNESSED THE FORESHADOWING OF MY _DEATH_!"

It seemed that our group was not the only one having conflicts. Several teams got up and followed our "example" of complaining about the selections, except without the violence. I sent a warning glare at Hitomi.

"Iruka-sensei, why does a great ninja like me have to be stuck in a group with a slug like Sasuke?" Naruto piped up.

Iruka-sense replied calmly. "Sasuke had the best scores of all the graduating students. Naruto, you had the worst scores!"

Even more teams spoke up. Ino complained about having to be with Shikamaru and Choji, and Mariko used _our_ team as an example, saying that she'd prefer to be in a kunoichi-majority squad.

Finally, Iruka-sensei got fed up with the questions. "Listen, guys. To create a balanced group, we put students together based on skills. Simply put, the best with the worst."

This caused even more commotion.

"AHEM!" Sensei cleared his throat. "After lunch, you'll meet your new jonin teachers. Until then, class dismissed!"

Everyone filed outside, but Iruka-sensei stopped the newly-made Team 11. Raiden, Hitomi, and I all stood in front of sensei's desk; myself in the middle, and them on either side. Sensei smiled forlornly.

"You know we can't change the groups, they were set based on skill and skill alone. You can't just back out because you dislike your teammates!" he sighed and scratched the back of his head. "This is why I'm counting on all of you to behave yourselves, especially with your new jonin teacher."

"Why, is he short-tempered?" Hitomi questioned.

"Well… not exactly," Iruka-sensei replied uncertainly. "Anyway, I'm letting you three go now, and remember what I said!"

"Yes, sensei." All three of us bowed in respect and made for the door.

"Oh, and uh… Raiden?"

Raiden turned around, still sulking. "Yeah?"

Iruka-sensei coughed. "Feel free to visit the hospital during lunch break to get some ointment for your face, alright?"

* * *

We all walked out of the Academy, not speaking to one another. We strode along the path into town in total silence.

Yes, you could say it was awkward.

Raiden walked with his hands in his pocket, looking down with a frown. Hitomi was drumming her fingers against the side of her thigh with a solemn face. I held tightly onto my shoulder bag with my mouth drawn into a thin line.

When we reached the hospital, we all stopped and looked at each other.

"Should we come with you?" I asked Raiden.

"No thanks. I'm pretty sure I can manage," he replied quietly.

"Ok, then. We'll see you in an hour at the Academy," Hitomi smiled.

Then, Raiden turned and went to the hospital's main desk, while Hitomi and I made our way back. Near the Hokage's Office and the Hokage Monument, was an area enclosed by trees. That's where we usually spend lunch break with a few other students, since that's where we used to go when we were younger. Though at that time, it had been Hitomi, Hinata, Mariko, myself, and even Sakura and Ino.

It was a really beautiful place. When it was sunny outside, the sun would shine through the spaces in the mass of leaves. And when it rained, the trees surprisingly protected us students from getting drenched, not a single drop falling through the foliage.

When we reached the area, we did find a few students sitting and eating with their new groups. Team 8 was standing near one of the trees. Hinata was looking down at the ground while Kiba tried to get both her and Shino to say something. Little Akamaru was running around them all, yipping and tugging at their shoes.

Mariko looked our way and got up from sitting down next to her own team. She was clenching her fists and muttering something under her breath.

"How's it going with your team?" Hitomi asked her.

"Horrible. All those two want to do is trade their stupid toys and collectible cards," she sighed. "What about yours?"

"We're off at a rough start, but I'm sure that we'll be able to manage. Right, Hitomi?" I gave a teasing smile.

Hitomi shrugged with a mischievous smile. Then she turned to Mariko. "We had a little group problem—"

Mariko laughed. "No kidding! Where is he? Or rather, _how_ is he?"

Hitomi smiled wryly. "Iruka-sensei told him to go to the hospital to get some ointment."

Mariko raised an eyebrow. "That bad? Remind me not to get on your bad side."

* * *

After we had finished eating, we made our way back to the Academy. We were told to sit with our teammates at any desk.

One by one, different jonin, both male and female, filed in. They introduced themselves, stated which team they would be heading, and then left with the students—or rather, genin.

However, this wasn't exactly done in order. In the beginning the jonin came in numerical order; Team 1 met together and left, as well as Teams 2, 3, 4, and 5. Then, surprisingly, Team 8's new sensei came. She strut in, a woman with shoulder length black hair, and startling red eyes. She was dressed in a red one-sleeved mesh armor with thorn patterned overlapping bandages. Her eyes widened when she turned to look at the time.

"Oh!" she exclaimed. Then she smiled hesitantly. "It seems that I'm a bit early. Sorry, Iruka."

She introduced herself as Kurenai Yuhi, and announced that she would be in charge of Team 8. Kiba and Shino got up and followed Kurenai-sensei with their hands in their pockets. Hinata teetered behind them, looking down and poking her fingers together. She caught our eyes as she exited the door and gave a small smile, as if to say, "Wish me luck... Please!"

Team 6's jonin sensei came next, the time he was supposed to come. He was a fairly stout man with an extremely high voice. The entire class had to hold in their laughter when he announced his name as Ryota, and then posed, saying in his squeaky voice that he was the strongest and fiercest man alive, and then fell flat on his face. When he announced that he would be heading Team 6, those genin had extremely worried looks on their faces.

Team 7's jonin did not come. I looked over and saw confused looks on the faces of Naruto, Sakura, and Sasuke as the jonin for Teams 9 and 10 came. Team 10's new Sensei introduced himself as Asuma Sarutobi.

_Wait, Sarutobi?_ I thought. _That's the name of the Third Hokage..._

Ino, Shikamaru, and Choji got up and left the room following Asuma-sensei.

Now it was only Teams 11 and 7 left in the classroom.

Sakura heaved a big sigh. "I wonder what's taking so long. Usually, high level jonin aren't supposed to be late to anything."

We all remained silent. Hitomi was sending death glares at Sasuke. Naruto was doing the same. I turned to Raiden and asked him if he was feeling better. He shrugged in reply and kept reading his manga, which had basically appeared out of nowhere. It was another full ten minutes before another jonin entered the classroom.

We heard the slight tapping on the walls outside the classroom. The jonin had been walking towards the classroom at his own leisurely pace, drumming his fingers against the walls, sliding along. When he came into view, Sakura gasped and squealed. Then she looked to Sasuke, blushed and kept quiet.

He had brown hair, which was pushed to one side and only slightly revealing his Leaf headband. One of his eyebrow rose when he saw that there were _two_ remaining teams in the classroom.

He sighed and made a mock salute. "Greetings, genin," he said in a bored and weary voice. "My name is Satoru Hashimoto."

His amber eyes bore into us, and he gave an involuntary flip of his hair. Sakura squealed again, causing the rest of us to look at her.

Iruka-sensei spoke up. "Sakura, do you need to be excused?"

Sakura blushed and kept quiet.

"Please tell me that Mr. Pretty-Boy here won't be heading our squad," Hitomi whispered to me. Too bad that Mr. Pretty-Boy had ears like a hawk.

"Well, if you're in Team 11, then yes, Mr. Pretty-Boy _will_ be heading your squad," he said with a slight smile.

Hitomi sighed and made an unenthusiastic cheer. "Yay. Fun."

* * *

We left Team 7 in the classroom, still waiting for their own sensei. Meanwhile, we followed Satoru Hashimoto around the village.

He didn't speak to us. The last words he had spoken were, "Okay, then. Follow me." But that had been back in the classroom.

We kept walking; past the several convenience stores and restaurants in a line right after him. At one point, he stopped suddenly, causing me to stop at the front, Raiden and Hitomi bumping into me from behind. We landed on the ground in a heap.

Satoru Hashimoto resumed walking, not even turning around to look at us.

We got up again, and Raiden raised his eyebrows. "Think he's messing with us?" he asked.

I shrugged and Hitomi rolled her eyes at the jonin, who actually got pretty ahead of us in that small amount of time. After we had caught up again, he turned around suddenly and walked straight between where Raiden and Hitomi were, and started heading in the opposite direction.

The direction from which we came.

"Um… Satoru-sensei, was it?" I spoke up.

He spoke without stopping or even slowing down, for that matter. "Yes, it is."

"Where exactly are we going?" I asked hesitantly.

"Yes, I'm quite alright, thanks for asking."

Hitomi gaped and turned to me with a look of disbelief on her face.

Raiden just shook his head and muttered about how this was going to be a long day.

* * *

We finally stopped at a clearing in the woodsy parts of Konoha. Satoru Hashimoto jumped up onto a boulder and sat down. All of a sudden, it had seemed as if his whole personality had changed. He narrowed his eyes and looked directly at us, without saying a word. His scrutinizing eyes stared us down, and I had an eerie feeling that he was somehow judging us; what kind of people we were, how we acted towards others, our personalities, our souls…

Then he relaxed. "Alright, genin. Introduce yourselves. Who knows, maybe you don't know each other very well, either."

"What should we say?" Raiden asked.

"I don't know. Whatever you want, I guess." He pushed his hair back. "Things you like, things you hate, dreams for the future," he chuckled. "What DO genin your age prefer?"

"What about _you_?" Hitomi countered. "What do people YOUR age prefer?"

"First of all," Satoru-sensei started out, holding up a finger. "I'm not that old. And second, I'm not a very interesting person.

"What are you, _chicken_?" Raiden teased, grinning.

Hitomi joined in. "Yeah, that's pretty lame… not to mention unfair. If we're going to tell YOU about US, you might as well cough up some details."

"Man, you guys are a pushy bunch. Fine, what do you want to know?"

I grinned. "Things you like, things you hate, dreams for the future?"

"Hmmm…" he made a thinking pose and was quiet for a moment. "Well, I like apples… but only red ones. And I hate apples of any other kind, the red ones are the juiciest. And my dream for the future—" Then he looked at us. "What?" he said blankly.

_Well, at least we know what to get him for his birthday…_ I thought. Then Hitomi looked at me and voiced my thoughts aloud.

Satoru-sensei chuckled at the comment. "Okay, I told you about myself, now you, genin." Then he pointed to Hitomi. "You can go first."

Hitomi smiled and spoke up. "I'm Hitomi Yamanaka. But more importantly, I'm also an Uchiha. I guess I like being with my friends, learning new things, having fun...oh, but I HATE guys that look down on me, think they're better than me, think they're so smart and popular, et cetera, et cetera. Oh, and Ray-chan; I hate him too."

Raiden's eyes widened and he opened his mouth to insult Hitomi, who continued.

"My dream for the future? Well, let's see...to become the greatest Uchiha, to show up that jerk, Sasuke Uchiha, and I guess to also bring honor to my clan and–HEY! Shut up!" Hitomi bonked Raiden on the head, who was loudly snoring.

"Uchiha Clan, eh?" Sensei replied, with an impressed look on his face. "And the Yamanaka as well? You've got quite a history, there." Then he pointed to Raiden. "You, the lethargic one, you next."

Hitomi snorted in amusement, causing Raiden to shake his fist at her. Then he began to speak. "My name's Raiden Nagahara, from the Nagahara Clan, and no, I'm NOT a hybrid."

Hitomi glared menacingly at him, while I shook my head, frowning. "You two are unbelievable…"

Raiden continued. "I like to read manga, my favorite food is any type of dried fruit, I REALLY hate being on a kunoichi-majority team, and my dream for the future is to transfer OUT of this team."

Satoru-sensei raised his eyebrows and disregarded the last parts of Raiden's speech. "A Nagahara, are you? One of my best friends was a Nagahara…" He looked deep in thought.

"_Was_?" Raiden said, confused.

"Hm?" Sensei looked up. "Oh, he died a while back."

_Well, that was awkward…_ the voice in my head said.

Then, Satoru Hashimoto pointed to me.

"My name's Shiori Kuroshima, of the Kuroshima Clan. I like to sketch different things I see, to read, my favorite food would be an onigiri, or anything vegan, for that matter, and I guess that I hate… uh… I'm not sure, actually…" I thought long and hard. "I guess I hate people that lie, trick, and deceive for personal gain."

I got strange looks from all three of them.

"That's a very detailed answer. Any back story to go with that?" Sensei prodded.

My eyes widened. "Wh-what? No, not really. Why, what's wrong with my answer?"

Raiden interjected. "You just lied!"

"Not for personal gain!" I shot back.

Then Satoru-sensei spoke again. "You guys come from some pretty famous clans, you know that? The Uchiha, the Nagahara, and the Kuroshima. Pretty rare to have them all in one squad. Even rarer for two of them to be girls…"

_THAT SEXIST JERK!_ I shouted in my head. I knew he hadn't meant it that way, of course. It was probably only the influence of Mariko.

"Anyway, tomorrow, we will start our first mission. Got it?" He pushed back his hair again.

We all nodded.

"What kind of mission?" Raiden asked.

"It's a mission," he paused. "That the four of us will do together."

"Care to elaborate?" I urged.

"Well…. To put it simply," he paused again, and once more pushed back his hair. "It's a survival exercise."

Hitomi's eyes narrowed. "Survival?"

"Yes, genin, survival." Satoru-sensei sighed, and AGAIN, you guessed it, pushed back his hair. "You see, of the twenty-seven graduates who came here, only 12 will actually be accepted as true genin. The other 15 will be— _weeded out_ and sent back to the Academy."

My stomach rolled over. I had the strangest feeling that he was going to say something along the lines of "elimination".

"In other words," he continued, pushing his hair back another time, which was REALLY starting to annoy me. "This is a make it or break it, pass/fail test. And the chance that you will fail is just around 50%."

I could see from the corner of my eye that both Raiden and Hitomi had the same exact expression as myself; one of anxiety and fear.

"But what was the graduation test for, then?" Hitomi practically yelled.

"Oh, that? That was basically useless. It was only to determine who might become a candidate for genin selections."

"WHAT?" All three of us screamed.

"Settle down, genin. You're dismissed. I want you all to meet me here tomorrow at precisely 4 AM, and bring your ninja gear. Got it?"

We all nodded once more, though a bit hesitantly this time.

Then, he pushed back his hair for the last time that day and spoke in an ominous tone. "Oh, and don't eat breakfast tomorrow. Or you'll puke."

He walked away, his hands swinging awkwardly at his sides.

Awkwardly.

I looked closely, and just as he performed the _Body Flicker Technique_, I saw ink marks all over the hand he had been using to push back his hair.

* * *

"He's a bit intimidating, don't you think?" I stated as I walked away from the clearing with Raiden and Hitomi.

They nodded, and both seemed to be deep in thought.

Hitomi came out of her trance. "I wonder what he meant by telling us not to eat breakfast… you think it'll be disgusting or painful?"

Raiden shrugged. The Nagahara Clan was near the northern border of Konoha, not easily accessed from the main road running from east to west in the village. As we all reached the fork to depart, I stopped and grabbed both of their hands.

"Promise me something?" I asked them both with a pleading look.

Raiden's eyes bugged and he jumped back, snatching away his arm. "HEY, WHOA, WATCH IT!"

I shook my head and rolled my eyes at him. "Raiden, relax. I just have a favor to ask, is all."

"Gosh, you're such a spazz, Ray!" Hitomi laughed.

Raiden came closer again and told Hitomi to stop calling him that, but I didn't take his hand in the fear of him lashing out at me again.

"I think we all realize that we DO have a few problems with each other, but while we are Team 11, we NEED to work together, and minimize the quarrelling as much as possible." I said, heaving a sigh. We were all quiet for a moment.

Raiden broke the silence. "Yeah, you're right. Hey, as long as you two are nice with me, I'll return the favor. Especially YOU, Hitomi!"

Hitomi grabbed Raiden under her arm, in the "noogie" position and stroked his bandaged head with wide eyes. "Let out your tears, young one!" She said in a creepy voice. "Let your misery and pain flow down the river!"

Raiden jumped out from her clutches and shouted, "WHAT THE HELL?" but was laughing at the same time.

_That's a good sign._ I thought to myself. _At least they aren't ACTUALLY trying to kill each other yet._

After we all had a good laugh, we parted ways and headed to our homes.

We were going to need a lot of rest.

Tomorrow was going to be a long day.

* * *

Thankfully, I set my alarm last night.

If I was late for Team 11's first mission, or rather, "Survival Test", I was going to be in a huge mess of trouble.

I reached the clearing particularly early, at 3:17 AM. No one had to stop me, since my parents still weren't home.

It was extremely dark, but I managed to make out the figure of Satoru-sensei sitting on the same boulder as yesterday.

I went up behind him, and bowed. "Good morning, Satoru-sensei."

He didn't move.

I repeated my greeting.

He still didn't stir.

I was behind him, and he was sitting on the boulder facing the opposite way. So I went around the boulder and looked up into his face.

_HE'S SLEEPING?_ I thought, astounded. Then I spotted three small boxed packages, one of which was already opened slightly. I looked in closer. _AND HE ALREADY ATE? HE SPECIFICALLY TOLD US NOT TO EAT!_

The small box was half empty, and had a tamagoyaki in it, or rolled omelet.

I went back to the other side of the boulder and sat down on the grass in a meditative position, with my knapsack on my lap.

I closed my eyes, and subconsciously drifted off into a light sleep.

* * *

I woke up to a person snapping their fingers in my face.

"Shiori? Shioooooooori? You awake?" It was Hitomi. I looked around and saw that Satoru-sensei was still sitting on the boulder. Raiden was leaning against it and reading manga, facing both Hitomi and I.

"What time is it?" I asked drowsily.

Hitomi grabbed Raiden's arm, pulling him forward and making him drop his comic book, to show me the watch on his hand.

"3:52!" she said cheerily.

"Was that really necessary?" Raiden sighed.

Hitomi answered back in the same upbeat demeanor. "Yes, yes it was!"

I got up and walked around to the other side of the boulder again. Satoru-sensei was still sleeping in the same position, his head supported by his arm, not moving the slightest bit. I looked on the ground beside him, but the small packages of tamagoyaki were gone. In its place, was an apple core.

"Figures," I said aloud.

Hitomi looked up. "Hm?"

"Satoru-sensei had an apple already. I was bringing him a red one. Oh well!"

Raiden looked up with a strange look on his face. "Why would you do that?"

I shrugged. "My cousin, Shun, gave me a couple of apples from her mother yesterday. I hate apples, and there was a red one among them. I remembered his whole apple speech, and decided not to let it go to waste." Then I reached for my bag. "Any of you guys want it?"

They both decided that they would follow orders and not eat anything, but I had already reached into my bag.

The strange thing was, I didn't come in contact with an apple. I could've sworn that I'd kept in there! I kept searching through the bag, even dumping out its contents on the floor.

"You sure it's even in there? You probably forgot it at home."

"No, I know for a fact that I had it with me the whole time. I even saw it in there when I reached for a graphite stick to sketch with on my way here!"

Raiden shook his head. "I don't get it. What's the big deal? It's just an apple."

I was too preoccupied with it to hear him. I turned around slowly and looked at the ground next to the boulder.

An apple core.

_He couldn't have... Could he_? I pondered.

Hitomi was staring at me and had the same freaked out expression. "He was really serious about the 'no breakfast' rule… and he checked your bag just to make sure... What a freak!"

"I'm right here, you know."

Hitomi jumped violently and gave an embarrassed smile. "Rise and shine, Sleeping Beauty!"

* * *

It was time to start the survival exercise.

Satoru-sensei had woken up at exactly 4:00 am, as if he was a human alarm clock. He described it to be one of his many quirks. He also admitted to having looked in my bag to see if I had brought food and broken the rules, and said that he couldn't resist when he saw the apple. Though hell knows how he managed to look in it if I had it with me as I fell asleep. Now he was explaining the rules of our first mission together as team 11.

He took out a timer and set it down on a small stone on the ground. Then he picked up his hand and scratched his head. "Okay, let's get started. I've set the timer for noon. Your mission is to take these bells from me. Simple enough." he stopped and blinked. Then he reached into his pocket and pulled out the two silver bells attached to red leather strings. "Sorry, I meant these bells."

Hitomi and I looked at each other.

"That's it?" Raiden said in a surprised tone. "We just have to snatch those two?"

"Pretty much." sensei shrugged, shoving his hands into his pockets. "If you don't succeed, you have to go without lunch. You'll be tied to those stone pillars over there," he pointed. "AND you'll have to watch while I eat MY lunch in front of you.

My stomach growled. _That's why he told us not to eat breakfast… it was to make it harder on us!_

"Wait," I said. "How come there are only two bells?"

Satoru Hashimoto had a puzzled look on his face as well. He muttered the same exact question under his breath, and brought his hands out of his pockets again. This time, he basically made a show of ruffling his own hair with both hands so much that it looked like he was about to shed.

"Uh… are you okay, sensei?" Hitomi asked hesitantly.

He straightened up again and continued speaking, ignoring Hitomi's comment and our strange looks. "The reason there are only two bells is to guarantee that at least one of you will end up being tied to a pillar, and ultimately disqualified for failing to complete the mission." He swung the bells in front of our faces. "THAT one goes back to the Academy."

All three of us simultaneously narrowed our eyes.

"Then again," Satoru-sensei went on. "All three of you could flunk out, too." He reached up his hand for the umpteenth time since we met him, and rubbed the corner of his eyebrow underneath his brown bangs. "You can use any weapons, including shuriken. If you're not prepared to kill me, you won't be able to take the bells."

"Even shuriken?" Raiden asked, raising his eyebrows.

"Isn't that a bit too rough?" I followed.

Hitomi spoke up as well. "Shuriken are the sharpest and most dangerous weapons in our arsenal. Using them _against_ you doesn't seem right."

"Are you all trying to imply that I'm some kind of weakling? I _am_ a qualified jonin, you know. _I_ graduated from the Academy when I was just six years old."

_Six years old?_ I thought in amazement. Raiden and Hitomi were wide-eyed as well.

"When I say start, you can begin." He glanced quickly at all of us, examining our stances and readiness.

"Get ready. And… START!"

* * *

Satoru Hashimoto stood still as the three newly-made genin scattered. Two kunoichi and a single shinobi. In a few moments, they were completely out of sight.

Satoru looked at his hands, which were covered in now-smudged black marks.

_Man, _he thought to himself wearily. _Kakashi sure does have some messy handwriting. I can hardly decipher it, let alone comprehend it._

He shook his head with a small grin and walked slowly around the clearing. He remembered one of the first lessons he had ever learned at the Academy.

"Ninja must know how to conceal their movements and hide effectively," he said aloud in almost a whisper. Then he glanced at his surroundings. "At least they understand the basics. They've hidden well."

Satoru sat on the boulder again when the genin didn't show up after 40 minutes. Even if he wasn't prepared, they were only genin. There wasn't much that they could do to harm him, or to even come close to it.

An hour passed, but Satoru still didn't get up. He stared into the sky, then at the ground, and then at the borders of the clearing.

Still no sign of the genin.

30 minutes later, he heard rustling in the trees nearest to him. Satoru Hashimoto slid off the boulder and into the midst of the trees. He focused a fixed amount of chakra into the bottom of his feet, and quietly walked up the tree where the rustling had approximately been heard.

He stood, his back leaning against the tree, straining to look to the other side.

He waited for a few seconds and proceeded to walk along the branches to the other side.

Instead of the genin, there was a squirrel nibbling at an acorn. It looked up in alarm and scampered away when it saw the jonin with kunai in hand. He started to say aloud that he didn't mean any harm, when he realized that he was attempting to talk to a squirrel.

Satoru Hashimoto jumped back down to the ground with a loud thud, as if he was TRYING to inform the genin of his presence. It was strange that they were taking so long. They had not even attacked yet.

However, he wasn't aware that his _thud_ had provided enough camouflage for a black-haired girl to whisper, "_Sly Mind Effect Jutsu!_"

* * *

Yes, it WAS very strange for the genin to be taking this long to attack and attempt to take the bells. They had wasted about two hours already.

Satoru Hashimoto started to walk through the trees, looking for any signs of them.

Three pairs of eyes followed him as he plodded along.

The white-haired one spoke quietly. "Is the jutsu working?"

"I'm pretty sure it is…" replied the black-haired one, biting her lip.

"How can you tell?" The green-haired shinobi among the group whispered.

"No clue, actually… we'll just have to wait and see…" she replied.

The white-haired one was still pondering over one detail. "I still don't understand why there are only two bells. I thought _all_ ninja squads need three people."

The other two nodded in agreement.

"Well," the shinobi said hesitantly. "When it comes to it, I guess it just depends on who gets to the bells first."

All three were quiet after that.

"Then we have to promise one thing to each other." The black-haired one broke the silence. "No tricks, no tantrums. It's a fair and square fight for the bells."

* * *

Satoru was still walking in the midst of the trees, when he realized there was something terribly wrong.

He was STILL walking in the midst of the trees.

He stopped suddenly and stayed perfectly still.

_There's something wrong…_ he thought. _This forest doesn't spread so far… I should know, this is where _I_ had trained as a genin…_

He stayed perfectly still for a complete ten minutes. He was actually taking in his surroundings.

Then he kept walking, and stopped again, this time for twenty minutes.

_Maybe if those genin are here, they'll think something's up and reveal themselves._

It was a pathetic attempt, he had to admit. But it was one worth trying, if at all.

He gave up at the endeavor and kept walking, this time realizing many important details.

_I get it…_ he thought with an astounded and extremely impressed attitude. _They're toying with me_.

Satoru laughed out loud. He made a hand sign and muttered, "_Release!_"

"I didn't know genin your age could produce such expert genjutsu," he said loudly with a chuckle. "You guys used the _Sly Mind Effect_ _Technique_, didn't you? I must've been running around in circles for an hour or so, huh?"

However, he didn't hear a reply.

So he did the only thing that he could do.

He kept walking.

* * *

The one with the bandaged head, green locks of hair sticking out, picked up a stone and threw it at a tree.

"I'm bored," he complained. He said it aloud, even though no one else was there.

He picked up one more stone and aimed it at the tree again.

The one with the black hair came out from behind the tree and put her hands on her hips.

"What are you doing, Raiden?" she said with an annoyed tone. "Can't you at least TRY to act discreet?"

Raiden narrowed his eyes and had to restrain himself from letting out a string of insults. "I knew it was too good to be true. You can't be nice to me for more than a few hours, can you, Hitomi?"

Hitomi gave a teasing smile and stuck out her tongue.

"What's going on?" Another kunoichi emerged from the trees, frowning.

Raiden sighed. "Hey, Shiori. Looks like the whole group's here, now." Then he tossed the stone he was holding onto the ground and shoved his hands in his pockets. "What're you two doing here? I thought we were supposed to be splitting up to get the bells."

Shiori ignored him, still frowning. "How much time do we have left? I don't think we can just waltz back into the clearing to check the timer."

Hitomi raised an eyebrow. "What's up with you? I think we have about three hours left by now."

Raiden groaned. "I wish we didn't even have to do this. I mean, what's the point? This is a pretty stupid first mission."

Shiori glared menacingly at him.

That's when Raiden got surprised.

"Did you two switch bodies or something? Shiori's acting like Hitomi, abusive and mentally displeasing."

Hitomi threw him a look.

* * *

Satoru Hashimoto finally found them.

They were standing near the outskirts of the woodsy area they were all in.

_Are they… arguing? At a time like this?_ He thought to himself in bewilderment. _This certainly is an interesting bunch…_

The Yamanaka girl was bickering with the Nagahara kid.

The Kuroshima was leaning against a tree, looking down with a scowl.

Satoru decided to wait and see if the genin were actually stupid enough to waste the whole of the time they had left. He quietly sat in the branches of a tree a certain distance from them. It was impossible for the genin to spot him, but it gave Satoru the capability to keep an eye on them, as well as hear the things they said without much difficulty.

Once he was seated comfortably, he looked up.

"Yeah, right." Yamanaka said with an unimpressed demeanor. "I think it's highly impossible for someone like _you_ to be able to perform a jutsu like _that_."

"Yeah, I can!" Nagahara shot back. "But I can't use it here, it'd be a waste."

"Yeah, a waste of chakra for a jutsu _you can't do_!"

"You're unbelievable! I don't deserve to be stuck with this team. And you don't even deserve to be ON a team! This is SUCH a drag! I'm hungry! Why am I ALWAYS—"

The quiet Kuroshima twitched. She slowly looked up, fury in her eyes, and did the unthinkable.

She sucker punched Raiden into a tree.

The tree next to the one where Satoru Hashimoto sat.

* * *

The eyes of everyone in the vicinity bugged.

Hitomi blinked, a look of horror on her face. "_Sh-Shiori!"_

Raiden got up, shaking, with the same look of fury in his own face. "WHAT THE HELL WAS _THAT_ FOR?" he shouted.

Satoru was surprised.

Sure, every group has quarrels every now and then. But they never went as far as _mortally wounding_ their own teammates. At least, not as far as Satoru knew.

Shiori had an almost sinister look in her eyes.

"All you've done," she said in a dangerously low tone. "Since this team came together, is complain. You've complained about everything imaginable, AND unimaginable."

Hitomi looked paralyzed. "Sh-Shiori? Are you alright?"

Raiden was still staring wide-eyed at them both. He had walked back to where they were, and was now trembling, his fists clenched tightly together.

Shiori continued. "Do you even THINK about the others? Sure, you've got it rough, but what about us? You're not the only one on this team. You HAVE to remember that."

Hitomi grabbed Shiori's arm and looked her straight in the eye. "Shiori, calm down! Sure, he's a bit annoying, but don't you think you're taking it a bit too far?"

The Kuroshima girl gave a wicked chuckle. "Too far? Not at all. He has to learn a lesson."

She gave him an intimidating stare and took out her kunai, relinquishing Hitomi's grasp on her.

Satoru Hashimoto's blood turned cold.

_THEY'RE TAKING IT TOO FAR!_ The voice inside his head shouted warningly.

He launched out of the tree and ran towards the three genin, one of them rushing at the other with kunai in hand, and the third one shaking terribly, grasping at her Uchiha Police Force bandanna.

"STOP!" He shouted in alarm, forgetting that they still had a mission to complete. "PUT IT _DOWN_, KUROSHIMA!"

He kept running, hoping, _praying_ that he would make it in time.

Satoru also had a last second decision.

He chose, and threw himself towards Raiden.

"MOVE!" he yelled.

But he did not make contact with Raiden, or any human being for that matter.

He stopped himself from falling with his feet, and realized that he was hugging a log with a kunai in it.

_Th-The Substitution Jutsu?_ He asked himself, double-taking and blinking.

There was a puff of smoke, and Raiden appeared behind him.

All three genin were surrounding him from all sides.

"Gotcha." They all said simultaneously, with mischievous smiles on their young faces.

* * *

[Hitomi: First of all, we'd like to say thanks to Satoru-sensei for helping to write part this chapter.]

**Not at all. It was actually kind of fun.**

[Shiori: "Well, it's nice to hear that. You're actually really good in writing in 3rd Person Omniscient.]

**[blank face] Wh-what?**

[Shiori: "Never mind. But at least we know that you WERE reading notes the whole time!"]

**Heh. Well, I'm no good at giving speeches. And Kakashi REALLY needs to work on his handwriting, instead of reading all the time.**

[Kakashi: (not looking away from book) "What's that supposed to mean?"]

[Raiden: "Anyway, we thought you were having muscle spasms the whole time. You kept pushing back your hair, tweaking your eyebrows, rubbing your forehead—"]

[Shikamaru: (pops out of nowhere, intimidating tone) "Hey, Raiden. I've got a bone to pick with you. Who said you could just TAKE my catchphrase like tha—"]

[Hitomi: "SORRY, FOLKS! OUTTA TIME!"]

* * *

_*Authoresses(?) Comments*_

_Mel: "Sorry about the delay. We had a problem with—"_

_Lucky: "We?"_

_Mel: [sighs] "Fine, _I_ had a problem that week. A lot of English work, hardly any time to type."_

_Anyway, we hope you enjoyed the chapter!_

_Review, comment, PM, anything!_

_We LIVE on feedback!_

_Also, check the profile for a link to our deviantART page._

_We will be posting some _better_ pictures of our characters, and alsosome information in the journal._

_You should also keep a lookout for certain mini comic strips for certain scenes!_

_If you do visit, and you visited because you read our fanfiction, tell us in the comments!_

_Again, we LIVE on feedback!_

_One more thing, we have a new email address._

_It's strictly for Team 11, and the name of the account's owner is even Satoru Hashimoto!_

_If you want to email us there for any reason, whether you don't have an account on fanfiction and you have a question, or even something else, email us there._

_P.S. We would also like to add our deepest condolences for Japan._

_Best wishes._

_At times like this, we must respect and not take for granted what we have_

_We suggest a moment of silence for each day until this matter is settled._

_-Melpomene Black (Shiori)_

_-Lucky the Leprechaun (Hitomi)_

* * *

**Troubles with uploading?**

**Go into "My Stories", click the story you want to edit, and you should get the error message.**

**Go to the URL box, and look for "property".**

**Replace "property" with "content".**

**:) Your welcome!  
**


	4. Chapter 4

"**Alright, Sasuke. Say it!" (Hands Sasuke a mic) **

[Sasuke: "NEVER! HITOMI, GO AWAY!"]

[Sakura: "Say it!" (Grabs Sasuke in a headlock and holds a kunai to his throat)]

[Sasuke: (shocked face) "F-fine! I-I…S-Sasuke Uchiha…(gulps) am a supporter of… Sasusaku!"]

[Sakura: "CHHAAAAA!" (Lets go of Sasuke and has a fangirl moment)]

**[Groans] "No, not THAT!" [Takes mic from Sasuke and whacks Sakura] "This is FANFICTION, and thus, neither I nor Melpomene Black owns anything in this story other than our OC's, so please give full credit to Kishi. **

**So here's Chapter 4, guys, enjoy! :)**

**Hitomi-style, ALL THE WAY!**

**But actually, there are quite a few parts in 3rd omniscient.  
**

* * *

_Recap: We've left our genin in a "face-off" against Satoru... let's hope this doesn't get graphic!_

Chapter Four

Satoru took it in all at once: the grinning, unscathed boy, the two impishly smiling girls, and the fact that they'd actually banded together in an attempt to outsmart him—a _successful _attempt, he had to remind himself. It seemed as though they were a bit more competent than they looked; not refined geniuses to be revered and feared, perhaps, but still, he had to admit that they weren't perhaps a _total _waste. But then it dawned on him. The genin each held out a kunai towards their new sensei, the newly sharpened weapons trained straight at him. It would've been a bit more intimidating if his emissaries weren't preteen kids, Satoru reflected. The way they stood, all proud and tall (though to be honest, he found one to be rather on the short side) armed and ready to attack, thinking that they'd outsmarted him and cost him the contest, that they'd _beaten _him, was simply _hysterical_.

Satoru couldn't help himself.

He burst out laughing.

The three genin frowned, misunderstanding. The black-haired, bandanna wearing girl lowered an overly fiercely held kunai in her confusion. "Wait…whaaa?"

"Hey! We outsmarted you! We _win_! Now hand over the bells or else!" the boy snapped, though his voice cracked a bit at the end. Satoru raised his eyebrow at the genin and wondered if he was always this short-tempered and impatient.

He laughed even harder when he saw how much the boy's trembling fingers struggled against quivering to hold the kunai straight.

"Something tells me…this isn't good," the last genin murmured, looking as if she might be considering some sort of retreat, possibly reconsidering their tactics.

This white-haired one seems to get the idea, Satoru mused.

"Still think you can beat me?" he goaded at the genin's somewhat troubled looks.

The genin said nothing. They lowered their kunai and slowly backed off a bit, uncertain of what would come next, though they knew that they were in for it.

"Right then," Satoru stood up, brushing some of the dust off his pants and idly fiddling with the strap of his jacket. "Maybe you three need a demonstration…"

He could've sworn he heard a genin gulp.

"You have fifteen seconds to run away," he warned absently, carelessly tightening his jonin gloves.

"Fifteen. Fourteen."

The boy smirked. "Ha! Count all you want. You don't scare us one bi—"

"Ten."

He shoved his teammates out of his way, darting off back into the woods as fast as he could.

The black-haired one was about to call out something his retreating back, most likely along the lines of "Coward!" or "You traitor!" but then this very thoughtful, perplexed look crossed her face, and she instead pointed at Satoru and exclaimed accusingly, "HEY! You cheated! You skipped like three numbers, that's no fair!"

"I'm relieved to know that, if nothing else, you genin at least know how to count to ten," Satoru mumbled, rolling his eyes. "And yes, I skipped a bit, so what of it?"

"So, that's not fair!" the Uchiha-Yamanaka girl shot back.

"Life's not fair," Satoru countered.

"But—" she began to whine again.

"Five."

His words instantly cut her off. She stood there frozen a moment and sweatdropped.

"Four.

"Let's go, Shiori!" The Uchiha girl grabbed her friend's arm, but her grip was merely shrugged aside. "But Shior—" she insisted, only to be cut off.

"We don't have time to run away," the other girl explained calmly, running through a few hand signs.

"Three," Satoru pulled a watch out of his pocket and tinkered with the timepiece a bit. "Two."

"_Invisible Barrier Jutsu_!" The Kuroshima called out determinedly, standing her ground, the other girl drawing her kunai, having reached the same resolve to stand and fight.

"One." He pocketed the portable clock and smiled up at the two remaining genin. "Now, I'll show you what the whole point of bringing the three of you out here for this training exercise today was." He didn't shout, but made certain that his words were loud enough to carry over to wherever amongst the trees the boy was cowering. "Don't worry, genin. I admire your courage, but there's no need to keep up that jutsu—for one thing, it wouldn't stop me; second, I don't aim to harm you. This is just a demonstration." He laughed at how Shiori stubbornly kept up her barrier. "Fine, do what you will." His hands formed the rat seal. "And now for the main event…"

* * *

I tried to focus on the hand seals, but once his nimble fingertips were set in motion, they were just a blur; I couldn't make out a single sign after the first one, his hands moved so fast and with the well honed practice of a true shinobi master. Finally, he stopped. I noted that he ended his hand seals with the monkey. At this point, I was absolutely clueless as to what kind of jutsu he could be attempting—and what was all that about a _demonstration_? Wasn't he going to attack to keep us from swiping the bells? Wasn't that the whole point of this test in the first place?

Just as I was about to ask him these questions, something unbelievable happened—the earth shook, almost like a small quake. The ground's sudden, rumbling shift in motion caught me so off guard, I went crashing down to my knees. Shiori wavered, and I could tell by the lines etched into her face that she was struggling to maintain her barrier. Glancing around, I wondered what in the world was going on—the sensei's jutsu couldn't _cause _an _earthquake_…could it? I looked up into Satoru-sensei's eyes then, and was shocked to see just how amused he appeared at my slight paranoia and deep confusion.

I scrambled back onto my feet and was about to tell him off when Satoru-sensei called out, "Genin, I'd like to see you try _this_."

I wasn't sure what he was about to try, but I slipped my kunai back into its pouch and formed the hand signs for the Fireball Jutsu, preparing myself for the worst. Okay, so maybe the technique wouldn't work, but I was feeling too anxious to attempt another genjutsu, not to mention that the last one had taken a drain on me.

Satoru-sensei turned to nearest tree, patted at its trunk fondly, and then grabbed it, both arms securely fastened around its middle.

I was completely baffled by this. "Shiori…w-what's he…"

Satoru-sensei then proceeded to tighten his inhumanely strong grip; the tree put up quite a lot of resistance, but then its roots groaned and creaked, and somehow, though quite reluctantly, were ripped with brute force from the forest floor. The roots snapped back as they broke through the surface of the earth, and Shiori and I stared on with a mixture of horror and awe at his abilities. Almost carelessly, he tossed the tree our way. I was unable to register the great tree trunk being hurled right in my direction at first, but soon it blocked out my entire line of vision.

"Get out of the way!" I heard someone yell, and my brain was just able to register that it was Raiden's voice; I was also dimly aware that he was running over to us.

But now my attention was solely focused on the tree, and I was transfixed by the thought of it crushing me. My eyes bulged, and I saw my entire life flashing before my eyes—my mom, the Uchiha compound, the bandana, my dad, Kazuhiro, playing with Ino and Sakura before they went to the dark side of fangirlism, yelling at the teme Sasuke who'd cost me those best friends, pushing around Raiden—wait, pushing around Raiden? Huh. I hadn't really remembered any of _that _before…

Shiori strengthened her barrier, but still it wavered, and I began to worry if that thing was really worth the effort. I tensed, my hand cupped to my mouth, ready to see whether or not I'd be able to burn through it. I closed my eyes, took in a deep breath, and exhaled—but I only managed to cough up a few flickering sparks. Out of options, mentally cursing my pig deluded Uchiha blood, I prepared myself for the impact, when….wait, no impact! And_ ow_, why was I on the ground again? I looked to my right to see Shiori get knocked down beside me, Raiden the coward having shoved us both out of the way, presumably to take the impact. And there, in front of Raiden, holding up the tree trunk was Satoru-sensei. Had I blinked? No, I hadn't, but…suddenly, in a single instant, he'd vanished and reappeared right in front of me and caught the tree with his chakra fueled shinobi strength. With a grunt at the enormous effort it took, Satoru-sensei threw the tree as far away as he could, Shiori and I marveling at just how talented our sensei was.

Satoru-sensei turned back at us and smiled. "Sorry if I scared you, but I just wanted to make it clear to you that this exercise was never about beating me."

"Wow, sensei…you have GOT to teach me those hand signs!" I pleaded, unable to think of anything else to say at the moment.

Raiden did a facepalm. Shiori just smiled and said, "We had a near death experience, and you're just concerned about the _cool_ technique he used, of course…"

"Actually…the hand signs were made up on the spot. Well, the first two to set the ground in motion and scare you a little were real, but the rest were just as an extra something to add to the moment, you know? They mean absolutely nothing. It was my own strength that uprooted the tree." At this, the there of us were unable to help but gape openmouthed in awe at the sheer destructive power our sensei possessed.

"Now," Satoru-sensei looked at each of us in turn—a disheveled trio of panting, exhausted kids that had just failed their first ever assignment. "You pass."

"Oh COME ON, this test was impossible to begin with, you can't just fail us because—"

Raiden elbowed me in the ribs. "Aren't you _listening_, Yamanaka? He said we _passed_."

"—and if you just expect a bunch of _kids _to take on an elite jonin, well then, you're—wait, he said what now?"

"We…passed?" Shiori's consternation appeared to be just as perplexed as my own.

Baffled, I blinked a few times and said dumbly, "Soooo…we _didn't _fail? And we're…we're _not _going to be sent packing? We can stay on the team?"

Sensei sighed. "Tell me, how did you genin catch me by surprise?"

"Uhh…with genjutsu?" I wondered aloud uncertainly.

"No, try again."

"We…didn't attack separately—and because we weren't divided, we had better odds?" Shiori guessed.

"Closer—that's good, stay with that. Now, what's that called, when you're not at all just divided?"

"Uh…I don't know…we used our strengths, helped each other, and we all cooperated. So…I guess you could say that we…used teamwork?" Raiden droned.

_Teamwork? _I rolled my eyes at that. _Please, Ray-chan, this isn't preschool ikebana arranging class. We're _ninja_ now; what makes you possibly think that something as cheesy and childish as _teamwork_ would help us defeat—_

"Exactly," sensei nodded. He seemed to finally be pleased with the way the conversation was going. "Teamwork."

_Are you kidding me? _Teamwork_, sensei? Seriously? _

"Teamwork is necessary for ninja—and for whatever else you do in life. There'll be times where you have to realize that, no matter how great and powerful you may become, you're still just you. But when you combine your abilities with someone else's and work together, you're far more powerful than you could ever dream of being on your own," he continued, removing an odd little gadget from his pocket to examine and fiddle with, only halfheartedly lecturing us. "You were put on a team where your partners' abilities enhance your own. That's why these squads weren't simply selected at random—to encourage each team of genin to work together and give them the potential to be the best shinobi that they can." He sounded as if he'd given the same exact response at least half a dozen times before, which, come to think of it, there was a very good chance that he had.

"So…this whole thing…you didn't care whether we got the bells or not? You just wanted to see if we would be able to work well on a team?" I asked, finally realizing what he was saying.

"Well, of course we didn't expect you to_ actually_ take the bells or anything. It's designed to be an impossible task, that way it ensured that you'd never be able to achieve this mission on your own. So, yes, the teamwork was all you were being tested on, really." He reached into his pockets, felt around a little, and fished out a few scraps of paper. "Now, let's see…according to this…hmm…ah, yes, here we are. Successful genin—'genin that were successful in the survival exam are to be rewarded with their first ninja mission tomorrow morning at eight o' clock,'" he read aloud from the scrap piece of paper.

"A real life actual _ninja _mission?" I simply couldn't contain my ecstatic enthusiasm; this was what I'd been waiting for for _years _now. "What's it going to be? A rescue mission? Top-secret recon? Infiltration to an enemy village?"

"Nothing too difficult; you'll be catching a lost pet cat on a D-rank. That's the traditional first genin mission. Not that I'm supposed to tell you that, though," he replied in a bored tone, tinkering with the dial of a bizarre looking compass he'd removed from his never empty pocket.

"Oh." You could just _sense _the disappointment hollowing out my tone.

"Yes, it should be a nice and easy first start. Oh, and genin?"

We had all gathered up our things and were just exiting the clearing when we turned back to face him at this. "Yes?" Shiori asked for us.

He genuinely smiled. "Welcome to Team 11."

* * *

_The next day…_

"Well, you certainly came prepared!" Shiori grinned.

Raiden smirked. "Expecting to have the cat claw your eyes out or something?"

Rolling my eyes, I set down the king-sized medical kit. In bright red letters stamped across the front underneath the cross read _First-Aid_, but it probably had something in it to treat every malignant known to ninja. When I'd gotten ready in the morning and was just halfway out the door, Kazuhiro came running over with it, _demanding _I bring it with me on my first mission today. Naturally, it's rather embarrassing to be seen dragging something like that on your first ever joke of a D rank, but he beseeched me until I lugged the thing all the way over here. And trust me it hadn't been an easy trip. The handle was small and narrower than a twig in comparison to the disproportionately ignoramus box-shaped twenty pound weight of antibiotics, cures, and bandages; it weighed a ton and probably dwarfed some refrigerators. It was a great relief on my aching shoulders to finally set the thing down, and I was too exhausted to even bother arguing with Raiden at the moment.

_He had good intentions_, I had to remind myself to keep from thinking about how I'd strangle Kazuhiro for this…

Satoru-sensei, as promised, was waiting for the three of us in the clearing where we'd plotted his downfall the day before. He was eating one of those red delicious apples of his, only pausing from his lunch to glace over at us and give me a curious look, his right eyebrow arched as high as it could go.

"Well, better safe than sorry," I grumbled, patting the medical kit at my side.

Satoru-sensei shrugged; that seemed a good enough answer to him. "All right, all of you take a seat and we'll go through your strategy."

"…strategy? But…we're just catching _cats_…is a strategy really necessary?" Shiori asked, voicing Team 11's thoughts aloud.

"Well…when you put it that way, no, no it's not. But still, at least have an idea of what you're doing. Ah! And yes, we can finally use these," his hand plunged into his pocket and fished out four pairs of headsets with attachable mics. "Here, everybody take one."

Me and my teammates sweatdropped. There were three pairs of black sets, and one in bright, sickeningly princess pink.

Sensei saw our dismay and put on a black headset himself. "Ah, yes. Well, there's usually only one girl per team, hence the coloration…well, go on, pick a set."

Pink. Sickening. Princess. Pink. _Ugh_. There was just NO WAY that I was wearing something like that…it looked cheap, trashy, and on a more important note, it made for terrible camouflage.

Shiori seemed to share my sentiments towards the color.

My teammates and I each exchanged a weary glance, than Shiori spoke up, "Okay, on three, everybody picks one. Whoever gets stuck with it gets stuck with it. Ready? One, two, three!" Six hands shot out. Shiori snagged herself a black set first; the second I saw she was going to try for that pair, I went for the other one. I wasn't as quick as her, so I knew I'd lose. Raiden was just about to claim the second black set, but my nails brushed against it about a millisecond before his, and I happily claimed my prize.

"HA!" I waved the third black set in front Raiden. "Take that Ray-chan!"

Raiden held up his brand new ninja certified pink headset, ground his teeth, and indignantly shoved it as forcefully over his reddening ears as he could. "So infuriating… Let's just get this over with…"

* * *

"Everybody in position?" Sensei's voice crackled through the static in my earpiece. I flicked the switch on the mike and whispered, hearing my own voice amplified, "Yes, Black Flame here, I'm all set."

"White Moon, I'm at my station too."

"…I'm here," a young, curt, male voice sounded over my headphones.

"_Who's_ here?" I challenged.

"..."

"Come on, say it, you have to. We said ours."

There was a long pause on the other end, then, "…Ray of Sunshine is in position."

"Good. That's all of us then." Sensei said; you could tell he was choking back laughter. "Alright, now—"

"You know, I think you're right, Shiori. We should've just stayed with '_Mr._ Sunshine,' I think that might've suited him better," I cut in.

"I know, right?" Shiori's voice sounded over the headset again, warped into a bit of a higher pitch tone like mine was when I spoke on the mike. "I mean, Mr. Sunshine just has such a nice ring to it, and anyway—"

"WILL YOU TWO JUST _SHUT UP_ SO THAT WE CAN GET BACK TO THE **MISSION**!" a childishly screaming voice sudden shrilled, deafening my eardrums and cracking the headphones' speakers.

I cupped my hands over the slightly short-circuiting earpieces and yelled at him to just shut up, and then Shiori yelled that we should both just be quiet, and then Satoru-sensei yelled that he was getting a migraine from Shiori yelling at me for yelling at Raiden for yelling in the first place, so my ears hurt like hell and still rang deftly from all the yelling. But really, it was the oddest thing. All that insulting and chastising Raiden we shouted and he didn't even breathe a _word _in response. Maybe he'd broken his headset or something. Attentively, I asked, "Hey, Ray, you okay?"

No response again.

"I…think we've lost him…" Shiori murmured.

"Hmm…hang on a second…" I closed my eyes and turned off the headset, focusing only on trying to seek out Ray's thoughts. Finally, I found him, and urgently switched the headset back on. "Alright, I found him, but it's not exactly good news…"

"What happened?" Satoru-sensei asked.

"Is he okay? Is he in trouble?" Shiori added.

"Well…that's debatable…"

I looked back at the oversized First-Aid kid lying against an adjacent tree trunk. Well, it looked like Kazuhiro was right; I'd need that on my very first mission after all…

As I gave my team the details of what was happening with Raiden, I smirked to myself, thinking that he'd better apologize extra nicely if he wanted those Band-Aids.

* * *

_Sometime before…_

Raiden—annoyed and at the end of his patience—yelled at those two antagonizing teammates of his as horribly as he could. It amplified tremendously and probably did some slight damage to their eardrums, but it served them right. Unfortunately, his teammates hadn't been the only ones that were agitated by his obnoxiously screeched shouts.

Lurking deep in the foliage of dark green camouflage, tawny fur standing on end, wrath accrued, yellow eyes flashing menacingly with a maddened gleam, was the mission's target. A target who, as it just so happened, never took too kindly to all of the ninja that came to seek him out and drag him back to his owner—couldn't they see how miserable she always made him, always suffocating him? And finally he'd gotten some peace and quiet, and now this _idiot boy _thought that he could just yell his head off and ruin this perfect new sanctuary? Lost pet Tora didn't think so. His muscles tensed as he crouched low, and then, like a tiger catching prey, he leaped.

By the time Raiden was alert as to what was happening, he only had a chance to just glimpse those razor sharp claws extending.

* * *

_Present_

"Okay…uhhhh…"

"Are you…sure you know how to do this?"

"Sure, sure." I wavered over the set of dozens of identical 3 inch tall, 1½ inch wide, and microscopically labeled white medicine bottles. "Uhh…."

Shiori grinned and rolled her eyes. "You don't know which one is the right bottle, do you?"

"No, wait, WAAAIIT! Give me a second, I can do this…I can do this…" I picked up one bottle; then abandoned it and started to go for another. "I've seen Kazuhiro do this hundreds of times...um…uhh…oh! It's this one, I know it."

"And how, pray tell, are you distinguishing this bottle from the fifty or so exact look-alike others?"

I sweatdropped. _It's okay_, I thought, _I can still salvage my reputation…just so long as no one realizes I picked using innie-meanie-minnie-mo…_

"Shiori, who is the medical genius here?" _Hell, not me_, I thought, but I proudly pointed at myself anyway. "A little less skepticism and a little more faith would be very nice, thank you very much."

Raiden groaned. "You're going to leave me at the mercy of her mediocre medical skills? Are you crazy? You might as well just get me my coffin right now and—OWWW!"

"Oops, I guess I made the knot too tight…" I smirked, admiring the knot in his newly wrapped head bandaging I'd just tied. His bandages had been clawed at and ripped off, leaving slight claw marks here and there. I unwound some more new gauze, dabbed the antiseptic on them, and rewound them over his head. "Just so you know…this stuff _really _stings…"

Shiori still had her doubts. "Are you sure you're doing this right?"

"Uh…sure I'm sure! You know…you just, you take the thing…" I unraveled some more gauze from the First-Aid kit, "…apply the other thing to this thing…" and here I smeared the antiseptic over it, "…and, you know…you just, you take the thing…and you wrap it around the…uh…"

Shiori smiled and raised her eyebrow at me. "You…wrap it around the thing?" she supplied.

"Exactly! Thank you…"

"I bet this is poison…" Raiden murmured, wearily eyeing the bottle of antiseptic. I punched him in the arm and told him to just shut up, or soon I'd have to bandage that too.

Satoru-sensei heaved a great, labored sigh. "Alright you three, I'd say you've had enough excitement for one day. It's alright, Shiori, Hitomi, I'll take him by the medical center. We'll meet here tomorrow morning at seven o'clock for training, and be on time, alright?"

Raiden grumbled something about having to be sent to the hospital twice in as many days.

Shiori gave him a sympathetic look, and said, "It's alright, sensei, we'll take him."

"Oh? Really? Good, good…team bonding and all that…thank you for offering, Shiori." And with that he pocketed his headset, waved us goodbye, and went on his merry way, just a blur darting through the treetops overhead.

"I think…that might've been the _first _time he's _ever _said my name," Shiori noted.

Raiden shrugged. "Well, it's about time. He only ever called us genin…"

"Well, he got mine, too. Maybe he's just bad with names?" I suggested, stooping to gather up all the medical supplies.

"Well… I _guess _it could be that," Shiori admitted, though still unconvinced. She helped me reorganize the First-Aid kit while Raiden attempted to redo some of the looser, unevenly tied knots of his new bandaging.

Once Kazuhiro's medical kid was neatly rearranged and all packed, we started to make our way back through the forest to the main streets of Konoha.

"You know, Ray-chan, if hadn't yelled, you wouldn't be in this kind of predicament…"

Raiden practically gave me the evil eye and Shiori had that "Now-is-not-exactly-the-best-time" look on her face.

"Well, maybe if _you _hadn't taken every single opportunity to just—"

"Alright, alright," Shiori cut ahead of the two of us, crossed her arms, and waited while Raiden and I stopped in our tracks, wondering what she was getting at. "Come on, we're a _team_—a three person team. Missions won't always go our way, but we've got to learn to deal with it, right? Didn't the sensei's speech yesterday count for _anything_?"

Raiden and I both took a sudden interest in our identical Leaf nin sandals.

"All I'm really saying is, let's try to be more of a _team_ alright?" Shiori concluded.

"Don't worry! We're definitely going to be the greatest team, and im sure that we can all learn to work together." I elbowed Raiden in the ribs, "Isn't that right, Ray?"

Raiden rolled his eyes, "Yeah, yeah…"

"Good," Shiori affirmed. "We'll be stuck on the same team for quite a while, after all. And I don't exactly _enjoy_ being the peacemaker all the time…"

* * *

Raiden and I started walking again, but then we both stopped and looked back. Shiori was preoccupied with fishing through her knapsack for something. Finally, she retrieved a sketchbook and her graphite stick. Satisfied, she shifted everything back into place, slung the bag over her shoulder, and jogged over to us. Raiden and I both hovered over her booklet as she flipped through the pages impatiently—sketches of Konoha, of civilians and famous ninja and even some past great warriors—all skipped over, and Shiori, still unable to find what she looked through, flung through the pages a little more quickly.

"Wow, you're good at that," Raiden admitted, sounding awed.

"I know, right?" I agreed. Shiori sketched so much, it was no wonder she was really good at it.

"Thanks…oh…it's here somewhere…uh, uh…ah…here it is!" Shiori turned the sketchpad so that we could see her latest sketch at the proper angle.

"Hey, that's me!" I grinned, pointing at the little two-dimensional mini-me on the page, somehow really excited by the paper look-alike.

"Hey, _I'm _there too, you know," Raiden pointed out.

Shiori smiled, "It's Team 11, so, do you guys like it?"

And it was—Shiori, me, Raiden, and she'd even started on outlining our sensei.

"I'll have to color it in when I get the chance, but I won't have time to do that until tomorrow, probably… Then again, colors usually ruin the piece." Shiori said.

"You don't even have to, it looks awesome already…" I held the sketchbook up a little higher to get a better look, mimicking the smile Shiori had drawn for me.

Raiden frowned. "It's an amazing drawing, really, but…why do I look…" his face scrunched up as he searched his limited vocabulary for the right term.

"Really unhappy? Discontented? Disgruntled? Displeased?" I supplied.

Shiori laughed. "Well…that _is _the facial expression I remember most about you."

Raiden rolled his eyes. "Of course it is…"

When we were done admiring it, Shiori secured the sketchbook in her knapsack. She slipped the graphite stick back into its little case, wiping off the smudge marks left lightly coated over her palms as best she could.

Then we were on our way again.

* * *

It was sometime later, after going through several conversations concerning Satoru-sensei, the true evil of cats—which inevitably led to the whole cat vs. dog debate—what kinds of jutsu we were interested in and had inherited, and how other teams might've coped with the testing, that we had finally reached our destination. Shiori and I waved Raiden off, and waited until the medical center's doors had closed behind him before heading on the road back home.

"I hope that doesn't happen again; I mean, that's the second day in a row he's gotten hurt," Shiori worried.

"Ah, he's Ray—that guy's like a boomerang, he'll always come back. I'm sure he'll be fine. And you know what they say; idiots never die."

"Do they really say that?" Shiori questioned.

"No, but I do."

I was about to explain that theory when, seemingly out of nowhere, a girl tackled me in a hug. "HEY! What's this I hear about you two passing that stupid test, huh?" Mariko grinned, giving us each a congratulatory high-five and elbow in the ribs.

I laughed. "_That_ test? Nothing to it! It was easy! You just need teamwork…"

"TEAMWORK? HA! Try working as a _team _with my so-called _partners_, they were a nightmare! They refused to let me even get _near _our sensei, those sexist, think-they-know-it-all male stereotypical—"

"H-hello, everyone," Hinata murmured, and we all turned to notice that she'd been waiting patiently for us, leaning against a nearby tree with her index fingers pressed together attentively. Mariko immediately fell silent at that; Hinata was always the mediation type, and whenever she intervened to say something, she usually hoped we'd calm ourselves a little. "Maybe you can take the test again next week?" she asked hopefully.

"I wish," Mariko grunted, rolling her eyes. "But I'd have to get sent back to the Academy and retake the _entire _finishing year course. And I don't think I'd want to waste my time doing _that _again…"

"Wait, what?" Shiori interjected, with wide, worried eyes.

"Yeah…" Mariko shrugged with a nod.

"There has to be _some _way around it," Shiori persisted. "Maybe your sensei will give your team a second chance, tomorrow, or…"

"No, my sensei's a nightmare. You should've seen the way he yelled at us for being a bunch of 'knucklehead ninja.' Honestly, this whole teamwork lesson learning thing is preschool stuff, we shouldn't have to get held back for an _entire year _because of it," she groaned.

"It _is _kinda dumb," I agreed.

"Maybe we can all talk to Iruka-sensei for you tomorrow…" Shiori suggested, but Mariko just sighed and shook her head, declining the offer. "Knowing my parents, they won't even want me to waste my time on this sort of thing...I'm willing to bet anything that by the time you guys are out on all your super cool top secret ninja missions, I'll be stuck hacking at some metal scraps in the forge…"

"You n-never know, you m-might like it there, M-Mariko." Hinata stuttered, trying to cheer Mariko up. "Thanks," the blue-haired girl smiled. "Hopefully, you're right…and oh, congratulations, Hinata!"

"WOW! You passed! That's awesome, you go, Hinata!" I high-fived her a bit too hard in my enthusiasm though, nearly knocking her to the ground. But really, I couldn't help it; I mean, how could I _not_ get even just a little overexcited? After all, of all people, Hinata was the last person I'd expect to become a ninja. She just wasn't the type. But then, the first test had been one on teamwork; Hinata _was _a well practiced peacemaker, like Shiori, and naturally felt the need to build allies and avoid conflict, so I shouldn't have really been so surprised…

Shiori seemed to share my sentiments, and beaming, congratulated her as well.

The nervously index-finger-poking Hyuga heiress blushed and murmured something about not having really done much at all, but at the same time thanking as for praising her anyway.

"You hear that, Hinata? You're a tougher ninja than I am! —boy, your teammates had better watch out!" Mariko called out jokingly, patting her on the back, and all of us laughed.

Hinata smiled and hurriedly blurted out, "D-Don't worry, Mariko, w-we'll come and visit you all the time…"

"Yeah, and if you _do _work at the forges, I won't have to sharpen my kunai!" I added cheerfully, throwing an arm around Mariko's shoulder, which was quite a stretch to reach at my height.

Mariko laughed and replied, "Fine, but I'm charging you just like everyone else…"

I groaned, "Aw, come on! Don't we get freebees, special perks, or maybe like a best-friend's discount or something?"

"Hey, if you're too lazy to sharpen your own weapons, then you should at least _pay _me to give some sort of incentive…"

"If she's going to be that lazy, then you should charge her double," Shiori suggested. "I'm sure you'd make a fortune from it…"

"HEY! Whose side are you on?" I laughed, and the others did as well.

"Well, let's all walk there together, then. W-We can stop by M-Mariko's house," here, she turned to the blue-haired girl in question, "and you can t-tell us whether you've decided to go back to the A-Academy or not…"

Mariko nodded. "Sounds good to me. So, what's the deal? Are you guys going back home now or do you have more training later?"

"W-well…our sensei wants us to get some rest, b-because we have more training tomorrow; b-but nothing for the rest of the day," Hinata explained.

Shiori nodded, "Yes, that's what we were told, too. But I have a quick errand that my aunt wants me to run. Just a quick stop at the market."

"Yeah, I have something I need to get done today, too," I agreed.

Mariko raised an eyebrow, "And what's that?"

I straightened my Uchiha Police Force headband a little guiltily. "Well…"

* * *

My friends having all gone home to rest for the day from our exhausting genin survival exam, I had to run my errand alone, though Shiori promised to meet up with me at the medical center later. But for now, there was something from the electronics shop I wanted to pick up. When I left the store with my purchase tucked under one arm, I was about to set off back to the hospital, but then something caught my eyes as I was hurrying through Konoha's now mobbed streets. I happened to glace the right way at the right moment in time to glimpse that unmistakable duck's butt, hedgehog spiked black hair moving through the crowds. Sasuke Uchiha…but where were his teammates? Maybe…maybe he hadn't even _passed_. But could that teme everyone seemed to praise as the ingenuous pride of the Uchiha had really messed up so badly as to have his ninja career go down the drain on just day one? Was I finally ahead of Sasuke, finally just as good of an Uchiha? I just _had _to know.

Shoving and slipping through the crowd, I worked on navigating my way to his hair, which, thankfully, was distinguished looking enough to not disappear in the thronging mass of citizens and ninja alike. "Sasuke!" I yelled at his back. "Sasuke-teme!"

Was I imagining things, or did that jerk just tense up and quicken his pace, deliberately _ignoring me_?

"SASUKE!" I knocked aside a bunch of people, hoping that they weren't carrying anything expensive I might've broken. "You get back here and listen to me when I'm talking to you, dammit!" A few more good pushes and cutting through people, and I was finally right behind him. "Sasuke, did you actually graduate?" I panted, breathless from the effort it took to catch up with him.

"Hn. Didn't we all?" he replied indifferently, not even looking back to face me as he spoke.

"_Baka_. You know what I mean!"

"My team passed the survival exam, if that's what you mean," he grunted.

"A—Oh…" I couldn't help it, I had thought for once I might've beaten him at something, and was crestfallen at the thought of being just another Yamanaka pig in comparison to him.

"Disappointed?" he smirked.

"_My _team passed too," I countered.

He shrugged. "Hn." And that was the end of our conversation; he didn't even give me a chance to mention that he still owed me that Fireball Jutsu lesson before skulking off.

* * *

Shiori had just finished her illustration and was stuffing it carefully into her bag as she closed the front door behind her, heading to the medical center to meet Hitomi. However, since she was a little early, Shiori took the long way around. She decided to cut through a clearing in the forest whose path she knew well, rather than the busied streets of the city. She'd been hoping for a nice and calm, peaceful walk in the shady foliage of the forest shadowing her overhead, but of course, things don't always go as planned.

It wasn't long before she started to hear shouts coming from the direction she was headed in. Not expecting something like this, Shiori activated her kekkei genki, or bloodline trait. Keen senses kicked in, and she focused all her attention on enhancing her hearing as she got closer. Soon, she could hear every word as clear as if she were right beside the two quarrelling girls.

"I notice your hair is a lot longer…Ino."

"What's it to you, Sakura?"

"Think you're so great? Well, top this! Sasuke and I are on the same team! So, Ino…you'll never beat me now."

"That goes double for me, Sakura…I don't care what it takes, you're not going to show me up!"

Shiori knew those voices all too well—they were those of childhood friends Sakura Haruno and Ino Yamanaka. She could still recall as vividly as if it were just yesterday when Sakura had sat down beside her, this fiercely determined look in her eye, and explained that she and Ino were now rivals for that oh-so-great Uchiha's heart. Shiori, of course, was completely baffled by this, as she shared Mariko's opinion of the male race. Even more startlingly, Sakura had actually demanded that Shiori take her side on this argument and help her upstage Ino. Apparently, Ino had had a similar conversation with Hitomi about showing up Sakura. And when the two future teammates mulled it over a little, they decided on not speaking to the boycrazy blond and pinkette until after some type of mutual agreement between them concerning the matter of Sasuke had been reached. Unfortunately…there never was one. Sakura and Ino both felt betrayed by their refusal to take sides, and hadn't been on friendly terms with either Shiori or Hitomi ever since. Just thinking about it made Shiori want to shout at them both for being such unreasonable, lovesick morons, and even chakra punch some sense into them. But she opted instead for simply going back the way she came.

* * *

Raiden Nagahara was relieved—not to mention extremely annoyed—when, after over twenty-five minutes of sitting completely ignored in the waiting room, he was finally called into a medic's office to be examined. (Okay, so he wasn't exactly suffering from internal bleeding or anything, but still, _s_o_meone _from the staff should've been available to help him, at least…) Having been cooped up in the waiting room with nothing to do but sit there awkwardly and uneasily shift a few seats over from the people who'd taken out the copies of _Icha Icha Paradise _set on display, Raiden found himself unbearably bored. He sat obediently on the examination table while the nurse left to fetch him a medic nin, but was too fidgety and impatient. He noted that the supplies—bandages, antiseptic, everything—were already laid out on the desk just opposite him on the other side of the drearily dull white room. If the medic didn't come within another five minutes, he decided, he'd redo the bandages himself and be on his way.

Luckily for the eager and impatient Nagahara, a medic arrived just a few moments later. She didn't bother asking him his name or anything; she just undid the bandages, remarked that no, they hadn't been tied properly, though the job wasn't atrocious either. She cleaned out his wounds, which she muttered were far more superficial than those that ninja should come here for, retied his bandages, and told him to wait on the examining table for her while she went to the supply room for some ointment. Again, he did exactly as he was told, though he groaned about it and swung his legs back and forth in a halfhearted attempt to occupy his time.

Moments later, a medic found her way to his room, though she wasn't the one that had been sent to treat him. Smiling, this medic—who seemed a lot more compassionate and well-mannered than the previous one he'd encountered—held out a wrapped parcel and illustration to him. "And I assume you're Raiden Nagahara, young man?"

He nodded.

"Great," she handed him the package and picture. "Your friends stopped by to dropped these off at the waiting room's front desk a few minutes ago. They asked me to give them to you." Raiden thanked her, and with another grin, the medic made a point of saying that it was those two nice girls that he should thank, and left the room.

Just then the other medic from before arrived, and he placed the two deliveries he'd been handed on a nightstand beside the examining table while she finished treating him and explained rather briskly, almost with annoyance, how to properly apply and rewrap the bandages every day for the next two or three days. Finally, her task completed, she left.

Raiden swung his legs over the side of the examining table and hopped lightly onto the floor, picking up the parcel to examine it. He recognized the sketch from yesterday, now colored in, the correct shading, lighting, shadows and everything; and Shiori had finished it in less than an hour. He made a small grin, and set the picture down at its place of honor on the center of his nightstand. Then he undid the brown, thin rope tied over the parcel. He tore the wrapping paper off unceremoniously, hoping it wouldn't leave too much of a mess to clean up.

When at last the rustling wrappings had been laid aside, they revealed his prize—a brand new Leaf nin headset. He smiled at first, thinking about numerous amusing ways to dismantle the pink pair, but then realized that this set was in _green_, a sickening swampy green. He smiled even wider. _Well…it's a start_, he supposed. He glanced at a small note wedged best one of the earpieces and read:

_Ray, you owe me 160 ryō! _

–_Hitomi _

Had Raiden looked closer at the detailed, almost lifelike illustration sitting atop the nightstand, he might've noticed that the painstakingly perfectly sketched Nagahara Leaf nin was now smiling just as he was.

* * *

**That proves to YOU, Raiden, that we CAN IN FACT, be nice.**

[Hitomi: "Yeah! You're always complaining about us! So, just stuff it, kay?"]

[Raiden: "...Could've fooled me..."]

**Oh, really? Well, this concluding part of the chapter shows that you DO appreciate us... try and contradict THAT!**

[Hitomi: (sighs) "Shiori, you're talking in big words, again..."]

**Wh-what?  
**

* * *

_*Authoresses(?) Comments*_

_I apologize that we made you guys wait extra time for the chapter, but I will get better at this whole deadline thing, I promise! As a treat and apology, we've updated on a Thursday, instead of the usual Sunday.  
_

_Uh…does Konoha even have an electronics store? I mean, they've got kitchen appliances and headsets and fancy preliminary round battle Japanese computers and stuff… TVs and surveillance cameras…_

_1600 yen, or 160 ry__ō,__ is about $20; I actually originally wrote $20, but then I had to facepalm myself and be reminded of the fact that this is a JAPANESE magical ninja fantasy world, not an American one._

_Also, I'd like to apologize if I make your favorite character look bad or if you support SasuIno or SasuSaku (which is actually the only pairing I like in this show, but sadly, this is not a SasuSaku fanfic) or anything like that. And it's not that I "hate" Sasuke, really, just that I enjoy messing with him^_^ but then…I suppose that's what Melpomene and I created Raiden for…_

_Thank you for reading, and please, please, please review! :) _

_-Lucky the Leprechaun_

* * *

_Hello, readers!_

_I've recently made a drawing of one of the scenes in Chapter Two, and posted it on deviantART._

_Look for the link on our FF profile, then you can find the new piece from there._

**"Naruto, You Idiot..."**_  
_

_I'm fairly certain that you all will get a kick out of it. :)_

_[Lucky: "Now YOU'RE talking in big words..."]_

_I am not!_

_[Lucky: "Well, maybe not big ones... but you're complicating your phrases!"]_

_Like what?_

_[Lucky: "'Fairly certain'? What's up with that?"]_

_...It's amusing. That better?_

_[Lucky: (sighs exasperatedly)]_

_And by the way, gotta love our cheesy codenames, huh? And no, we are aren't going to just SPONTANEOUSLY stop arguing... every team has its quarrels!  
_

_-Melpomene Black_


	5. Chapter 5

**Well, hey there!**

**Truthfully, is anyone REALLY annoyed with us always uploading late?**

**I know for a FACT that there are quite a few people who don't have accounts on fanfiction and check up on Sundays for updates... And I feel so bad!**

**Lucky and I have been thinking... maybe we should take a little break and JUST write a few chapters... you know?**

**Once we're like... 3-5 ahead of schedule, we'll upload the first... then the next the next week, and the whole while, we'll be typing up future chapters.**

**Make sense?**

**So I'm sorry to say, we WILL be taking a short break. It WON'T span more than a month... two weeks at LEAST.**

**I'm really sorry, but keep in mind we're FRESHMAN at DIFFERENT SPECIALIZED high schools. Sometimes, it's hard to get in contact, y'know? Plus, we have TONS of work... :(**

**To tell you all the truth, I was actually wondering whether or not I should upload this week's chapter... It was finished... Tuesday or Wednesday, I believe.**

**But in the end, I felt bad, and decided to upload it. :)**

**Sorry you had to sit through my long letter!**

**And sorry for any disappointments!**

**We appreciate our fans, and thank you for the wonderful emails, comments, and PMs!**

**Especially to Echo Uchiha, a DEVOTED fan. She's commented with short and sweet comments on every single chapter!**

**[high fives] Thanks, Echo-chan!**

**So, back to the story!**

* * *

_Recap: Poor Raiden... just got out of the hospital...__ He recieved some gifts, though, so it's all good!__ ...right?_

Chapter Five_  
_

_CRACK!_

The sound echoed throughout the soundless house.

I stared in surprise at the now cracked porcelain tea cup.

My hand hovered a few centimeters above it, faintly shaking.

After recovering from the shock, I quickly took to removing the maroon shards from the wooden table and disposing of them, as well as mopping up the spilled tea.

"What a wonderful way to begin the day…" I said aloud.

I'd heard enough about bad omens to know to expect the worst.

* * *

It was 10:47 in the morning. Team 11 met up at 7 AM, but we hadn't any new missions to complete. So Satoru-sensei had given us the day off and train by ourselves if we liked.

We were plodding about the main center of Konoha after we had wrapped up, watching the people as they strolled around, completing errands and attending to their own matters.

"By the way," Raiden said, absentmindedly scratching the newly-tied bandages wrapped around his head. "Thanks for the stuff, you guys."

I rolled my eyes and smirked. "Stuff?"

"You know," Raiden shoved his hands in his pockets and looked away. "The things you guys left last night."

Hitomi had a mischievous grin on her face. "Whatever do you mean, Sunshine?"

He frowned. "C'mon!"

Hitomi's eyes widened as she spoke in mock surprise, "Oh, you mean those two GENEROUS PRESENTS we left for you? And speaking of which," here she pinched Raiden's cheek hard.

"OUCH! WATCH IT!" He yelled.

"SPEAKING OF WHICH," Hitomi continued loudly, not letting go. "You owe me 160 ryō!"

"Oh, lay off, Hitomi." I sighed in exasperation. "You don't want to land him in the hospital again."

Hitomi huffed. "Yeah, then we'll have to go through the trouble of buying him presents again."

Raiden glowered at her and struggled to wrench her hand from his slowly bruising cheek.

I laughed. "But, Hitomi, dear?" I said in a sweet voice as we neared a clearing. "Wasn't it you who proposed the idea in the first place? 'Poor Raiden, how can we EVER make it up to him?' Was that how you put it?"

Raiden snickered as Hitomi started shaking her head furiously. The string of beads around her hair and underneath her headband made several clicking noises as she did so.

"OW, OW, OWWWWW!" Raiden yelled. I finally poked Hitomi in the arm and pulled it away.

Hitomi bent over, laughing. When she came back up, she was still smiling. Then her face melted into a frown. From there, a look of horror.

I was about to question her, when I realized that she was looking beyond us. I turned around just in time to see a dark silhouette advancing on us at tremendous speed.

"GET DOWN!" I yelled. I pushed down on both of their heads, and we all landed on the grassy floor of the clearing. I felt claws scrape at surface of my scalp through my hair, and then rip through the cloth band that held it in a ponytail.

I made a strange noise, either a "GAH!" or an "ACK!" or both of them morphed together. Then I felt the same claws shredding at my hands, and ripping the netting on my arms. I pulled away and jumped back. Raiden and Hitomi both jumped up as well, alert.

Hitomi whipped out a kunai and held it at the ready. Raiden followed suit. I tried, but my right hand burned.

"SQUAWK!"

I blinked.

We all stared in surprise at the screeching bird hovering before our faces, which was violently flapping its wings at us. It kept screeching and shrieking, louder and louder. Hitomi yelled at it to shut up, which infuriated it even more. But instead of attacking her, it launched at me.

"SQUAWK!" It started to tear at my right arm again. I covered my face with both arms, but it still continued to shred my skin with its sharp talons. Then something clicked.

_Why is it attacking only my right arm?_ I thought with a wince. _Unless..._

Raiden was waving his kunai at the bird, trying to catch its attention. Hitomi was trying to bat it away with a notebook.

I shot my arm outwards, out to the side. I kept it completely straight, my eyes closed tightly. I opened one eye hesitantly to see the bird taken aback. Then it landed happily onto my outstretched arm.

Hitomi sighed. "So THAT'S what it was all abou—!" Hers and Raiden's eyes widened.

The bird was digging its talons into my arm, plodding along it until it reached my shoulder. I clenched my fist tightly to ignore the pain.

"What does it want?" Raiden wondered aloud, pocketing his kunai, not exactly detecting a threat.

I opened my other eye as well and looked closer at the bird. "Hey… it has a message!" I cautiously reached for the small clasp containing a scroll of paper, beady black eyes fixed at me.

"Is it for us?" Hitomi asked, craning her neck.

"Not sure," I replied. "But it has the Hokage's symbol on it." I continued to slowly inch my left hand towards the leg of the threatening bird, which was less damaged than my right hand. As I did so, it dug its talons deeper into my shoulder.

Almost there… I thought desperately. I just need to undo the clasp, and—

"SQUAAAAAAAWK!" The bird lashed out, and relinquished its tight hold. I yelled, and it flapped its wings once again at me. It disappeared from my view above my head, and Raiden and Hitomi gasped.

* * *

Of all the things Satoru Hashimoto expected to see while buying his monthly lottery ticket, this was not one of them.

It was an ordinary morning. Ordinary weather, ordinary crowd, ordinary Konoha hustle and bustle.

"GAAHH! GET IT OFF!"

"WE'RE TRYING! STOP STRUGGLING!"

"TRY TO REACH FOR THE CLASP!"

"WHAT DO YOU THINK I'M TRYING TO DO?"

"WHY ELSE WOULD THAT THING BE TRYING TO TEAR HER TO BITS?"

"I'M JUST TRYING TO HELP!"

"HOW THE HELL IS THAT HELPING?"

"WILL YOU BOTH RELAX AND GET THIS THING OFF ME? GAAHH!"

Satoru sighed and stuffed the lotto ticket into one of his pockets. He'd know those annoying young voices anywhere by now.

* * *

"What in the world are you three up to?" Satoru-sensei said amusedly, emerging from behind a few trees. I could see that he was desperately trying to hold himself back from laughing, as were Hitomi and Raiden.

Meanwhile, I was shaking. There was a sudden weight I felt, and it took me a few moments to register what was actually happening. I slowly looked up.

"SQUAWK!" The messenger bird screeched and poked its beak at my forehead.

Hitomi and Raiden couldn't hold it in any longer. "BAHAHAHAHAAAAAA!" They were clutching their stomachs and laughing their heads off, while I stood stiff and unbelieving, a dark bird with a metallic clasp attached to its leg on my head.

Satoru-sensei face-palmed himself, but it was obvious that he was just trying to hide his own grin. "Should I even ask?"

I sighed. "I'm having a bad day, that's all." The bird started to stamp its feet in my hair, one "foot" after the other. Then it crooned and started to pick at my hair with its beak. "This one's really starting to bug me..."

Hitomi smiled and walked over to me. She reached her hands up, and had to stand on her toes because of her... "height disadvantage".

Her smile disappeared and her face morphed into one of consternation.

I raised an eyebrow. "What's going on up there?"

"I... I think it's... stuck!"

"Wh-what?"

Raiden jeered. "C'mon, Hitomi. You probably just can't untangle it! We all know that you fail at tying bandages, too."

Hitomi ignored him. Now THAT was surprising. I expected her to snap back at him. The fact that she didn't worried me.

"Why is there a messenger bird in the first place?" Satoru-sensei questioned.

Raiden filled him in about our strange morning while Hitomi yanked at my hair.

"Don't hurt it!" I warned.

Hitomi just rolled her eyes. "The thing practically tore you up, and you're worried about IT?"

"Well, yeah! It IS the Hokage's messenger bird."

Apparently, Raiden hadn't supplied that one detail.

"WHAT!" Sensei's eyes bugged.

Raiden rubbed the back of his bandaged head and grinned sheepishly. "Oh... Yeah!"

Sensei's eyes widened even more. "You guys STOLE Lord Hokage's messenger bird!"

I heaved a huge sigh. "Raiden, you need to learn to explain things better." I removed Hitomi's hands from my head and tried at removing the bird myself. "No, we didn't STEAL the bird. It launched itself at us out of nowhere! Also, it has a message on its right leg."

"Left." Raiden and Hitomi corrected.

"Left leg, sorry."

Satoru-sensei walked up and unclasped the metal contraption with a single hand, plucking it off the leg.

"GAAHH! Was that REALLY necessary?" I yelled. The force had caused my hair to be pulled as well.

Sensei just kept walking away, as if he hadn't heard. We noticed that he was reading the message. "Hm... Now? No, afterwards..." he muttered.

"WAIT!" Hitomi yelled. "WHAT ABOUT THIS?" She motioned to the bird that was still pecking at my forehead.

"He can't hear us." Raiden shrugged.

"No kidding..." I agreed. We watched as our sensei finished reading, tensed up, tucked the message in a pocket, and sped out of the clearing.

Hitomi shook her head and tightened her Uchiha Police Force headband. "Helpful. REAL helpful."

* * *

Hitomi held up a kunai. "Snip-Snip?" she asked with a hesitant smile.

I grinned, trying to ignore the annoying winged creature on my head. "Personally, I'd love to have my hair cropped short. Though... I wouldn't trust YOU with the job, sorry."

"Hahaha!" she laughed. "I don't blame you!"

"Then why do you keep it long?" Raiden interjected.

"What's it to YOU?" Hitomi said with a sly smile. "Hoping for us to give you some proper hair care tips?"

Raiden looked away, steaming red. "No! Man, there's something wrong with you! I was just curious, that's all."

"Curiosity killed the cat." Hitomi countered.

"Shut up!" Raiden yelled, receiving a stuck out tongue in return.

We were all quiet for a moment, sitting cross-legged in a small circle on the grassy floor, when Raiden's face lit up in amusement. "Don't tell me... It's because of Sasuke, isn't it? That's why you grew out your ha— UGH! OUCH! HEY!"

I had reached across our little circle and punched him in the stomach, hard, unable to control myself.

"WHAT THE HELL HAPPENED TO THE PEACEMAKER?" he gasped.

"Sunshine, you should know," Hitomi said, stifling a laugh. "It's UNWISE to get either Shiori or I angry, got it? You'll be the one who gets hurt in the end. Do we need to remind you about the... incident in the bell test?

"Shut up, Hitomi!" he yelled once more, clutching his stomach. "And stop calling me that!"

I glared at him. "Sasuke's one of the foulest people to ever walk this earth, in my opinion. You should know that, right? You used to sit next to him in the Academy."

"Eh," Raiden shrugged. "It's not like I ever talked with him. He just sat there, glaring at everyone and muttering to himself. I asked if I could borrow a sheet of paper once, and he stared at me with steely eyes for a whole minute before slamming one on the desk in front of me. So yeah, he's chock-full of attitude."

"Baka." Hitomi and I both muttered simultaneously. Hitomi grinned. "So, why DO you keep your hair long?"

"Well," I said, softly stroking the silent bird on my head. It was as if it was listening intently to our conversation, instead of terrorizing me. "My mother always wanted to have long hair, but her own parents always kept it extremely short, like a boy. So she always said that I should grow it out and keep it long. She never forced me, just suggested it."

"Oh, is that all?" Raiden said, folding his arms behind his head and falling backwards onto the grass.

"What, were you expecting a whole exciting back story?" I grinned.

* * *

"NO!" I yelled.

"C'mon, Shiori. We've got to get this over with already."

"Why should we bring her to the hospital of all places? Feeling homesick, Raiden?"

"Will you just stop? All I'm saying is that they might be able to remove the bird better than we can! Its legs are all tangled in her hair, so it just stands there. She can't go on forever like that!"

Hitomi grumbled. "Thanks for stating the obvious. You seriously think I don't know that?"

I tried once more to extract the messenger bird from my hair, but it was almost impossible. Because of its stomping its feet several times on my scalp, my hair twisted and knotted around the talons, and wrapped itself around the legs. If the bird hadn't ripped through the piece that I used to tie my hair up in a ponytail, it probably would've been simpler to coax it out. But my hair was out, and down to my lower back, leaving more to tangle, and less resistance.

"So I'm going to have to walk out in the open to the hospital with a bird on my head?"

"Basically!" my two teammates replied.

* * *

We started out on the main road of Konoha after exiting the clearing. The moment we emerged from the trees, a couple walking down the street stopped short and stared. The woman was holding onto the man's arm, both of them with one leg in the air, as if they had been frozen. Their mouths dropped open as they gawked at us unblinkingly.

Hitomi beamed and waved. "Just keep walking, don't break the speed, just keep walking…" she muttered under her breath, not betraying her fake smile.

So there we were, three genin walking down the main road of Konoha, attracting stares. Hitomi was in the lead, pulling me along by the arm. Raiden was in the back, his arms folded behind his head as he lumbered along, following us. We even spotted Mariko, who stared at us incredulously.

"Don't ask." I mouthed, cautiously shaking my head to avoid angering the bird. She complied and walked past us, still turning around to give questioning looks.

We crossed paths with even more of our past classmates, resulting in snickers and murmurs of "So that's what it's like to be an actual ninja…"

We even crossed paths with Naruto's team, who was heading toward the Konoha gates. They all had bags on their backs, and a man with a straw hat was following them. The man was holding a bottle, which probably contained alcohol judging by the redness of his face. He took one look at us, took a swig of the liquid, and gawked like the rest. "What the heck happened to you?"

Naruto had an amused look on his face. "BAHAHAHAAA! SHIORI! THERE'S A BIRD ON YOUR HEAD!"

"Way to state the obvious, you nitwit!" Sakura grumbled. She caught mine and Hitomi's eyes, and looked away quickly, crossing her arms.

The jonin with them raised an eyebrow. He had gray-white hair, wore the traditional jonin getup, and a mask that covered his nose and mouth. His headband was tilted so that it covered his left eye. "Hm… you guys are genin, too, right?" he asked while scratching his head. "You're the ones under Satoru?"

We all nodded in reply.

"Ah, yes," he nodded his head. "Public speaking isn't exactly Satoru's forte, as you've probably noticed."

I remembered how we'd figured out that Satoru was reading off notes from his hands. "Yeah, we definitely noticed that." I said, laughing.

Hitomi giggled as well. "Nobody cares about ink poisoning these days."

"Well, it's been nice meeting you thr— er… four?"

"Ignore the bird." Raiden said in a bored tone.

"Right," he replied uncertainly. He introduced himself as Kakashi Hatake. "Well, goodbye, all. Team 7's got a mission to complete. Come on, Tazuna."

They started walking past us, so we continued on our way. Hitomi turned around and death glared at the silent Sasuke, mouthing "You still owe me!" But he simply turned his head with a "Hn". Naruto was still laughing his head off. "Hahaha! Bird! There's a BIRD!"

"Wonderful," I sighed with a wan smile once they were out of earshot. "I've become the laughing stock of Konoha."

"Eh, don't say that!" Hitomi said with a grin.

"Oh well. We're only a few minutes away from the hospital. Hopefully, they'll cut my hair. That'll be my excuse!" I laughed.

"But you said your mother doesn't force you to keep it long! Why would you need an excuse?" Hitomi questioned, without turning back.

"I grew it out to please," I replied indifferently. "Not a good reason, I know."

Hitomi just shrugged and chuckled while Raiden shook his head, and all three of us continued on our way.

* * *

A woman in a white medic's outfit walked up to the front desk. She picked up the clipboard and read it off with squinted eyes. "Kuroshima Shiori?" she questioned, looking up. I stood up with Hitomi, and then Raiden got up and waved at the woman. She laid her eyes on me, and her mouth dropped slightly open. I smiled sheepishly. "Oh! Er… follow me, please?" she said hesitantly. As we followed her to one of the examining rooms, she kept turning around and gawking at my head. When we entered the room, she closed the door and eyed the beady-eyed bird. "I'm guessing the problem's the bird?"

I nodded. "We were just hanging around, when this messenger," I pointed to the quiet bird staring intently at the medic. "When this messenger bird swooped down on us and started to shred my arms and hands." I picked up both of my arms and showed her, the heavily damaged right, and the slightly torn left.

"Well, why don't you go over and sit on the examining table. I'll clean up the wounds and wrap them up, alright?" the medic told me. Then she turned to Raiden and Hitomi. "You two can leave, if you'd like."

"I'm fine with staying here and waiting for her." Hitomi shrugged. Then she added, "As long as you don't stick me with any needles, that is."

The medic frowned. "Why, do you need one?"

Hitomi laughed. "No, ma'am! I'm perfectly healthy!" Then she turned to Raiden. "What about you, Sunshine?"

Raiden narrowed his eyes at her.

"Feel free to leave, Raiden," I told him. "You've already been here too many times this week, after all."

"Oh, yes!" the medic interjected. "You were here only yesterday, weren't you?"

"Yeah, AND the day before that," Raiden replied in a grumpy tone.

"You should really take better care of yourself!" The medic chastised.

"ME?" he yelled incredulously. Then he motioned to us. "These two are the ones who landed me in the hospital in the first place!"

"No excuses, young man! These two are the ones who brought you those nice gifts last night, if I'm not mistaken?"

"They were APOLOGY PRESENTS!"

* * *

Raiden decided to stay in the waiting room, while Hitomi sat on the spinning stool in the examining room with me.

"HAHAHAHAHAAAA!" she yelled as she spun around in circles. I laughed and told her that she'd get dizzy and hurl, and that the medic would be back soon, but her yelling drowned me out.

The medic was somewhere else in the hospital building. She had said to sit tight while she checked on a few more rooms; then she would be back to disinfect and bandage my arms.

"Are you ready for this?" Hitomi asked, coming to a stop.

"Ready for what?" I replied.

"The pain, the misery… you know! The procedure!"

"Huh?"

Another medic came in, this one significantly young. She was carrying a tray of gauze, ointment, cloth, and a liquid. She set it down on the counter next to the sink and began to work on my arms without speaking.

"Shouldn't the bird be removed first?" Hitomi asked.

"Hm?" The medic asked, finally looking up. "What bir— ACK! WHERE THE HELL DID THAT THING COME FROM?"

I stared at her. "You didn't notice it when you came in?"

Her eyes were fixed on the bird. "N-noticed it? N-not at all!" The bird screeched and she jumped. "But yes, I suppose we'll have to work it out, first."

It took about 15 minutes for 3 medics to get the poor messenger out of my hair. Five minutes to untangle the hair from the bird's feet, and ten minutes to coax it from my head.

One of the three medics took the Hokage's bird outside and set it free. It flew back to Hokage Tower, without attacking another innocent soul.

The second medic left as well, leaving the last one, the oblivious and young one, to work on my arms.

First, she took the liquid and rubbed it over the wounds in my arm with the gauze. I expected it to burn, but thankfully, it didn't.

"What's that, peroxide?" Hitomi asked.

The medic looked surprised. "Yes, actually, it is! Training to become a medical ninja, are you?"

"No, but my cousin's a medical ninja. He always tries to teach me about it, so that I'll become interested in it as a profession."

"It's not a bad choice, you know. Who's your cousin?"

"His name's Kazuhiro."

The medic dropped the peroxide bottle, eyes wide. "Kazuhiro? Kazuhiro Yamanaka?" I looked down and saw that she had dropped the bottle with the cap screwed on tight, thankfully.

"Yeah, Kazuhiro Yamanaka," Hitomi reached down and handed the medic the bottle. "Why, do you know him?"

"Know him?" The excited young woman burst out incredulously. She laid her hands across her heart with a dreamy look in her eyes. "I trained with him! He was the Academy heartthrob! Well, not was. How is he? I bet he still looks the same, huh? Did you know that he used to—" she glanced at Hitomi's face and turned red. "Oops… sorry, too much information."

Meanwhile, I was laughing my head off on the inside. Awkward moments with Hitomi were priceless, just because of her expressions.

The medic finished applying the peroxide and then dried the excess moisture. She then spread an ointment over the entirety of both arms. Hitomi resumed her spinning as the cloth bandages were finally wrapped around the wounds.

"This should heal up fairly quick, don't worry one bit. Keep these bandages on for two days, and then replace them every other day for two weeks. They'll be good as new. Got it?"

"Got it," I replied with a grateful smile as she handed me a package of the cloth bandages. "Thank you!"

"Yes, thank you very much!" Hitomi said as well.

"Don't worry about it!"

We turned to leave when she stopped Hitomi. "Will you tell Kazuhiro I said hi?" She was visibly blushing.

"Er… sure, I guess," Hitomi told her uncertainly. But the medic took this as a personal achievement. As we walked out, the door slammed behind us, and we heard a high-pitched scream.

"EEEEEEEEEEEE! YES! YES! YES! YES! YEEEESSSSSSSS!"

* * *

"SUNSHINE! WAKE UP, YOU NIMROD!"

"HITOMI, I WASN'T SLEEPING! AND STOP CALLING ME THAT!"

We attracted more stares in the waiting room. But at least it wasn't about a bird this time.

Raiden got up from the bench in the waiting room and jammed his manga book under his arm. "My headband was partially covering my eyes; that does NOT mean I was sleeping! I was READING!"

As we exited the hospital, a certain thought clouded my mind. "Er… hey, Hitomi?"

Hitomi turned around from in front of me, where she was pulling on the ends of Raiden's head bandages as if he was a horse. "Yeah?"

"Did that medic even tell us her name?"

Hitomi stopped, looking contemplative.

Raiden's head was yanked backwards. "HITOMI, LET GO, DAMMIT!"

"I don't think she did, actually…" Hitomi decided. "Well, that saves me the awkwardness of telling Kazuhiro in the first place! ONWARD, STEED! TO THE DANGO!" She pulled hard on the bandages, revealing more tufts of swamp green hair. Raiden tensed and pulled the bandages down.

"Say, Ray?" Hitomi asked, finally letting go of the two strips. "Why DO you wear those, huh?"

"No particular reason," he mumbled after properly adjusting the bandages.

Hitomi ran in front, stopping us all. She faced Raiden with narrowed eyes. "So you're hiding something, aren't you? Lemme guess… you have a HUGE bald spot, right?"

Raiden turned red. "What? No!"

"Then what is it?" I asked. "I'm curious as well."

Meanwhile, Hitomi was imagining several possibilities. "A birthmark? Nah… what about scorch marks? You know, from burns? Nah, you don't look like the type who plays with fire, unlike me… I KNOW!" she shouted. Then she thought about it more. "Nah, it couldn't be, your head's too small…"

Raiden shook his head with a frown. "Just leave it alone, alright?"

Hitomi scoffed. "Well, fine! No need to be all snarky about it!"

Raiden walked a few more steps ahead of us, and I leaned over to Hitomi with a smile. "We'll find out sooner or later. He can't hide it forever!"

She grinned as well, and we followed Raiden to the Dango Shop.

When we reached there, Hitomi went inside first, this time. Hitomi took three steps inside, but suddenly jumped back out, bumping into Raiden and I. All three of us landed in a heap, as we did just a couple days ago.

"AH!" I yelled in shock. "What happened! Is something wrong?"

"Sensei's in there!" she replied in a surprised tone.

Raiden rolled his eyes and pushed both of us off of him. "You klutz… Big deal! It's not like he's going to punish us for going in there."

We all rushed inside, since we were obstructing the entrance to the shop. Hitomi was right; Satoru-sensei was near the dango counter, talking with two other ninja, a woman and another man. They were jonin as well, by the look of them. As we walked to a table to take a seat, Satoru-sensei turned around, dango stick in mouth, and looked us over.

"Well, I see you got rid of the bird," he said with a small smile. He removed the thin wooden skewer from his mouth and started to fiddle with it. Then he motioned to the two jonin, who were smiling in our direction. "By the way, this is Hikaru Ibaraki and Hikaru Kobayashi."

"Same names?" Raiden asked after we had all greeted them.

The female, Hikaru Ibaraki, laughed, her short orange hair flying. "Yup, it's a unisex name, goes for both genders." Her bright blue eyes gleamed. "You can imagine how troublesome it was for Satoru here to speak to us when he needed to on missions!"

The other man, who had green eyes and jet-black hair, nodded his head in agreement, not speaking.

"Oh, you all were on the same genin team?" I asked.

Satoru nodded. "So, what're you guys doing here? Not planning to steal anything else, are you?"

Hitomi's eyes bugged. "We did NOT steal the Hokage's messenger bird!" she yelled, attracting the attention of many dango customers.

Hikaru Kobayashi chuckled. "I don't remember doing anything like that when WE were genin. Do you, Satoru?"

Satoru smiled and tossed the dango stick into the nearest trash can. "No, not us. LADY Hikaru was more of the mischievous one, wouldn't you say?"

Hikaru Ibaraki grinned. "Oh, shut up, you!" Then she leaned closer to us. "Trust me, THEY'RE even worse than I am."

"ANYWAY," Satoru-sensei interjected. "You three, after you're done, meet me at the Hokage Tower in the mission briefing room, got it?"

"We have another?" Raiden questioned.

"Yes, you do. You'll get more info there." He turned to Hikaru 1 and 2. "That messenger bird was supposed to deliver the message to me, but for some reason it insisted on attacking Kuroshima."

"Are you some kind of bird handler?" the male Hikaru asked with an amused smile. "Or do you just naturally attract them?"

The female Hikaru slapped him behind his head. "Be nice for once, you idiot! Can't you see she's injured?"

"They're the spitting image of you guys," I murmured to Hitomi and Raiden. They both crossed their arms and looked away from each other, noses turned up.

"Okay, then," Satoru-sensei started. "I better clear these two out before the next Shinobi World War begins. See you all later."

After they left, we all sat down at a table and ordered. I ordered the Chadango, green-tea flavored dango, while Hitomi ordered the traditional three-colored Bocchan Dango. Raiden ordered the Mitarashi Dango, dango covered with sweet and salty syrup.

"So," Hitomi started. "What do you guys think we'll be doing this time?"

I shrugged. "It's most probably going to be a D-rank or C-rank mission."

Raiden folded his arms on the table and leaned forward. "I hope it's not TOO easy. It's pretty boring when it is."

"You think any genin team ever got a higher-ranked mission?" I wondered aloud.

Hitomi drummed her fingers on the table. "I'd hope so! I don't think I'd be able to stand doing those missions for too long."

One of the waitresses came by with our dango on a tray. She laid our plates on the table with a friendly smile as we thanked her, and then retreated back to the kitchen.

"I can't wait till we're chunin," Raiden said as he took a bite of his Mitarashi dango. "Then we'll get harder missions."

"Not necessarily," I corrected, having some of my own. "I think it goes more along the lines of experience."

"Yeah," Hitomi agreed. "But how come Naruto's team got to leave the village?"

"They had that man with them, didn't they?" Raiden said.

I replied. "I think they were just escorting him somewhere else. He didn't look like he was from around here."

Hitomi laughed. "Definitely not. You don't see a lot of drunken bums roaming around in Konoha. They just stay IN the taverns!"

We all laughed at that.

After we had all inhaled our dango, we paid and left for Hokage Tower.

"I still think you should've paid, Ray-chan," Hitomi said with a sigh.

""I'm not THAT easy to manipulate, Yamanaka."

"Oh, so we're turning to last names now, are we, Sunshine?"

* * *

"Hey, you three! Long time no see!"

The moment we walked into the room where we would be assigned our new mission, Iruka-sensei greeted us.

"_SQUAWK!_" I saw the demonic messenger bird perched on a wooden stand at the side of the room. It had an almost smug look on its small, dark-feathered face. Iruka-sensei told us to follow him to one of the desks, where Satoru-sensei was waiting as well. I made sure to stand on the side farthest from the bird, which was also out of its line of vision.

"Alright," Iruka-sensei started. He looked down at the papers in front of him. The Hokage was sitting to his left, and was talking to a group of jonin and chunin. "Your next mission is… wait… Lord Hokage!"

The Third Hokage turned from the group of shinobi. "Yes, what is it, Iruka?" He glanced at the paper Iruka-sensei put to his face. Then he removed his smoking pipe from his mouth and heaved a huge sigh. "Iruka, there is nothing wrong with giving them a C-rank mission."

"But they're only genin, fresh out of the Academy!" Iruka argued, his eyes wide. Satoru-sensei face-palmed himself.

"Iruka," the Hokage said in his gruff voice with a serious look on his face. "There is NOTHING WRONG with giving genin a C-rank mission. It's a simple delivery to another land, there is NO NEED to worry."

He was about to argue back, but Iruka-sensei faltered. He closed his eyes and sighed resignedly. "Alright. My apologies, Lord Hokage." The Third nodded in reply and turned back to the shinobi group. Iruka-sensei continued. "Your mission, Team 11, is to deliver an object to a good friend of Lord Hokage's, in Kusagakure, the Village Hidden in the Grass." The group of jonin left, their mission briefing having ended. The Hokage turned back to us. "Yes, he's a very dear friend, and the Hidden Grass Village isn't that far from here. It should be only a two-day trip if you travel by daylight, starting tomorrow."

Satoru-sensei nodded. "Yes, it shouldn't be hard at all to reach there."

The Third Hokage smiled and started to stroke his small white beard. "It's good to hear that. His name is Kenshin Sakamoto. However, I am not aware of his current whereabouts. I only know for a fact that he still resides in Kusagakure. It should be fairly easy to locate him, I'd suggest just asking around."

_Easy for him to say_… I thought to myself. _He's not the one who'll be going door to door in a place like the Hidden Grass Village_.

"The only reason this mission is ranked as a C-rank, is because of the distance," he continued. "I would've given it to a chunin team, at least, but with the current state of the village, it would be wisest to give the most difficult to the higher ranked shinobi."

After the Hokage finished his explanation, all four of us left, Iruka-sensei waving frantically and telling us to always remember to travel with buddies and never talk to strangers.

It doesn't get any better than this.

* * *

"Alright," Satoru-sensei said to us after we had walked a few minutes from the Hokage Tower. It was already 6:43 in the evening. "You three go home and pack up your essentials," he held up his hand and counted on his fingers. "Clothes, toothbrush, hair brush, ninja gear, et cetera. Got it?"

We all nodded.

"Then tomorrow, meet me at the Konoha gates at 6, alright?"

Again, we nodded.

We were silent, staring expectantly at our sensei.

He realized and scratched the back of his head. "Er... Dismissed?"

* * *

I waved to Hitomi as she walked through the Yamanaka Clan's gates. Raiden had departed a bit earlier, muttering about kunai and toothpaste.

When I reached my own home, I quickly put away my things. I gathered several black tunics and trousers and placed them folded on my bed. I kept my kunai pouch with me, but set down an extra supply of basic weapons and diversionary tools.

I looked them over, making a mental checklist. _Kunai… Shuriken… Smoke Bombs… Flash Bombs… Paper Bombs… Wire Strings… That should be enough..._

I decided to leave the rest to pack in the morning, since I would have to use them.

"Can't forget the most important thing," I mumbled under my breath. I grabbed my sketchbook from my shoulder bag and put it next to the other items lying on the bed, along with a few graphite sticks. "That reminds me…" I realized that a shoulder-bag might prove to be troublesome along the way, so I rummaged through the house for a normal backpack. Unfortunately, the only one I found was an old bright orange one. My parents must've taken the normal black ones with them, as this had been the one I had as a young child. With a sigh, I decided to buy a new one quick. The small orange one would only have enough room to store the clothes and a single kunai.

I walked to the main center of Konoha, where all the stores and restaurants were. It was nearing 7:30 when I left home, and I wanted to be back by 8.

Once at the travel store, I found a perfectly-sized black backpack, priced at 296 ryō. I decided to buy it, since I rarely spent money on anything these days. It was sure to last for quite some time.

"Anything else?" the man at the counter asked. I shook my head and handed him a couple of bills. He nodded as I said my thanks. "Have a nice day, come again."

* * *

I woke up at 4:45, the alarm clock being useful for once. I carefully placed all the supplies I set aside into the new bag. After I finished the "traditional sanitary methods" performed every morning, I packed my toothbrush, toothpaste, hairbrush, and a few more cloth strips for my hair, in case another creature decided to demolish them. I also remembered to pack the supply of bandages the medic had given me yesterday. After all of this had been done, and I had eaten a quick breakfast, the clock read 5:32. I tensed, thinking I'd be late, when I heard a knock on the outside wall. There wasn't exactly a door for my house, only a type of sliding screen which we rarely used. Most days, we just kept it open to let in the fresh air, like many of the other houses in the Kuroshima Clan. Apparently, it's supposed to symbolize trust between family members…

I walked to the front of the house, to see Raiden and Hitomi waiting there, leaning against the opposite door frames with their own backpacks.

Hitomi smiled. "Time to go, come on!"

"Wait," I said. "I just need to do one more thing."

I quickly ran back to the kitchen, where my backpack was lying on a table. "You guys can come in if you want, I'll only be a minute!" I yelled. "No need to stand out in the sun!" I heard their footsteps, meaning they had walked into the main room. I carried the backpack back to them, and took out my sketchbook. I tore out a page, and started writing a quick note on it.

_Just in case you come back, know that I'm in Kusagakure on a mission._

_I'm not sure when I'll be returning, but don't worry, I'll be safe._

_I'm going with two other genin, my teammates, and a jonin._

_-Shiori_

I laid the paper on the table in the main room, so that it would be seen right away when entering the house. "Okay, I'm ready now." I told them.

Hitomi furrowed her brows. "They're still not back?"

I shook my head with a half-smile.

"What happened?" Raiden asked, clearly confused after having read the note.

"Quit butting in!" Hitomi yelled, elbowing him in the ribs.

I tried to restrain myself from laughing at Raiden's expression. "It's nothing much, my parents just aren't home yet. They've been gone for a month and a half already."

Raiden was still out of the loop. "Where are they?"

Hitomi face-palmed herself. "Do you have short-term memory loss or something? Her dad's an Anbu Black Op, like mine is. And her mom's an _elite_ jonin."

Raiden shrugged. "So? My parents are both jonin, but they're home most of the time."

Hitomi shook her head, and face-palmed herself once again. "How thick can you get? Her mom's an ELITE jonin, like the ones that were in the mission briefing room at the Hokage Tower. More experience, more missions, more intensity."

"Oh, those guys were elite jonin?"

"Hitomi," I said firmly, holding back her arm from another face-palm. "Your forehead's getting red, and I think we should leave now." I motioned to the clock. Now it read 5:39.

I grabbed my backpack, and we headed out the door and the Kuroshima Clan's gates.

It took about 10 minutes to reach the Konoha Main Gates, and Satoru-sensei was already there, speaking with the two shinobi who sat in the guard station. We walked towards them all, and saw sensei taking a package wrapped in a dull green cloth from one of the shinobi. I blinked in surprise when I saw who it was.

Satoru-sensei turned around first. "Ah. There you are. You all ready to leave?"

Then the shinobi turned and squinted his eyes. "Shiori, that you?"

"You know this guy?" Hitomi whispered.

"Izumo?" I asked hesitantly.

"Yeah, long time no see, kid!" Izumo Kamikuzi replied with a smile.

Satoru-sensei raised an eyebrow.

A look of realization formed on Hitomi's face. "Oh… Izumo as in UNCLE Izumo?"

Raiden, Satoru-sensei, and the last shinobi all looked confused as ever.

The eyes of the shinobi bugged out, and he stood up, pointing accusingly. "YOU'RE AN UNCLE? SINCE WHEN?" Then he glanced at me. "IZUMO, HOW OLD _ARE_ YOU?"

Izumo shook his head. "Relax, Kotetsu. I'm the same age as you. Hopefully, you'd know that by now."

"He's my mother's younger brother." I explained.

"Speaking of which, how IS Shira? Wait… no, she's on a mission right now, isn't she…" Izumo thought aloud. "Anyway, I hear you guys are going to the Hidden Grass Village?"

Hitomi beamed. "You know it!"

Kotetsu sat down. "This their first time out of the village, Satoru?"

Satoru-sensei nodded and started to fidget with the straps of his own backpack. "As far as I know."

Then Raiden spoke up. "Actually, I've gone out of the village."

Hitomi looked surprised. "Really?"

"Where to?" I asked.

"I've been to Takigakure, the Village Hidden in the Waterfall, Kumogakure, the Village Hidden in the Clouds, and the Land of Noodles."

"…There's a Land of _Noodles_?"

* * *

We had set out at exactly 6 AM, mostly due to the fact that Satoru-sensei was an OCD alarm clock…

Anyway, all four of us walked on the path leading to Kusagakure. The Hidden Leaf Village was located in somewhat of the center of the Land of Fire. The land that contained the Hidden Grass Village touched borders with the Land of Fire, so it would be fairly easy to get there, considering that we wouldn't have to cross through any countries. Along the way, we talked about random topics, spanning from the reason why the Leaf Forehead Protectors were on blue cloths, to how it was impossible to lick your elbow.

So yes, you could say we were bored.

Satoru-sensei was behind us, we three genin in the front. He would let us know if we had to make a turn or something, but for the most part he remained quiet, staring up at the sky and fiddling with a small object in his hand.

Several hours into our venture, we spotted a tea house. Sensei let us order whatever we wanted and promised to pay, but we all ended up having some kind of tea in the end. I had chamomile, Raiden had green tea, Hitomi had oolong, and sensei had black tea.

We continued on our journey after the bill had been paid.

We were just about to finish discussing the health issues with ramen, when we were stopped.

A boy cart-wheeled in front of us from behind a bunch of bushes. He sprang up, looked at us all, and dove into the bushes of the opposing direction. We all jumped back. It all happened so fast that it seemed like blur.

"What the hell was _that_?" Raiden muttered.

"Stand your ground." Satoru-sensei said to us firmly. "There are more people coming this way."

We all took out our kunai and backed away. Sure enough, a group of four shinobi, three male and one female, came rushing through the same bushes. They didn't seem to notice us, and kept moving. After they were a safe distance away, Satoru-sensei motioned for us not to put down our weapons.

Then he turned towards the bushes in which the boy was in. "Hey, you. Who are you?"

The bushes remained silent and didn't stir.

"We know you're in there," sensei said loudly. "There's no use in hiding, come out."

The boy poked his head through the bushes, and we saw that he has a curly mess of golden brown hair. He slowly looked up at us with matching caramel-colored eyes. He cautiously got up and looked us all in the faces. "Hello," he said quietly. "Thanks for not ratting me out." Once he was standing up, it was easy to tell that he was a few years older than us, maybe 16.

Satoru-sensei repeated his question. "Who are you? And why were ninja from the Village Hidden in the Rocks chasing you?"

The boy kept his solemn disposition and spoke quietly. "They weren't chasing me. They were looking for a corpse around here, and I was ahead of the group, trying to lure them away. You see, my father died recently, and he died with a certain object that's of some worth. I just couldn't let them get it!" Tears started to well up in the boy's eyes, and he fell to his knees. "That's all my family has to survive! We have to get it back!"

I felt genuine pity for the poor thing. I could tell by looking at Hitomi's and Raiden's faces that they felt the same way. But when I looked at Satoru-sensei, he looked as if he was about to burst out laughing. I gave him a disgusted look, but he didn't notice.

Sensei grabbed the boy by the back of his shirt and held him in the air. "You've got quite an aptitude for lying, there. I must admit, I almost fell for it."

The boy shrugged, and wiped his eyes. "What gave me away?"

I couldn't believe what I was hearing. Lying? That sounded perfectly convincing!

"You over-explained, for one thing." Sensei said in a slightly amused tone.

He shook his head like a wet dog, the golden brown locks flying everywhere. "Yeah, I seem to do that a lot." Then his face adopted a mischievous smile. "Hey, you're a pretty good lie detector."

"And _you_ seem to be very pathetic," sensei replied in a dull manner. He let go of the boy's tunic, and he dropped to the ground. "Why were those ninja really chasing you?"

"I… might've-sort-of-kind-of-maybe-possibly have stolen some food."

"I would've thought that you'd tell the truth after being caught lying once."

This time, it was easy to detect that the boy had been fibbing once again. I don't think any land or village would ever send four shinobi after a kid who stole some food.

The boy got up and scratched the back of his head with one hand, grinning. "That was a test. You really are good!"

Then I noticed something. He had kept one hand behind him the whole time, since he came out of the bush. "You did steal something, didn't you? You're hiding it behind your back!" I yelled.

He turned and faced me. "Hm… you're very perceptive, t— HEY!" Hitomi and Raiden had snuck around him from his blind spot and grabbed the tiny leather drawstring bag he was carrying. The boy lunged for it, but Hitomi passed it to Raiden, who tossed it over to Satoru-sensei. He opened it, and a golden chain with the symbol of the Tsuchikage fell out.

"You thief!" Hitomi yelled.

"You all can come out into the open now." Sensei said loudly.

We turned around, confused. Then we saw the four shinobi who we had thought hadn't noticed us. "We were surprised to see none other than Satoru Hashimoto, you know," the kunoichi of the group spoke in a husky voice. "What are you all doing here?"

"Simple mission to complete, that's all. You've heard of me? I know ninja who have done far more than I have." You could tell that he was pleased, though. "What are you going to do with this boy?"

"Isao's always up to something," one of the shinobi sighed. "I guess we'll just have to bring back the chain and let him be." He held his hand out, and sensei handed it to him.

"He's from your village," sensei shrugged. "Do what you want."

The four shinobi scattered and returned in the direction of their village, leaving Isao with us. Hitomi and I gave him nasty looks. He grinned in reply and bowed in a chivalrous manner.

"You guys are on a mission, huh?" Isao asked. "Where to?"

Raiden spoke up. "We're on our way to— MMPHMPHM!" Hitomi and I covered his mouth.

_Well_, I thought to myself. _That's not suspicious at all, now is it_?

We looked to Satoru-sensei, who shrugged. "We're not hiding anything. We're on our way to **Amegakure to do some scouting**."

I remained calm on the outside and shook my head at Raiden, as if chastising him. He got the memo and looked away, as if he was annoyed. Hitomi crossed her arms and made an act of glaring at Isao as well.

"That's a pretty high-end place, you know. Industrial, and all. Well, good luck! Try not to get soaked!" Isao waved at us all and ran in the direction that the shinobi had gone, probably back to his own village.

Once he was out of sight, sensei sighed. "I have the feeling we haven't seen the last of that kid."

* * *

**So, you may have noticed, but this is one of those typical NONSENSE chapters. Think of it as a filler, but it was basically to introduce some characters, give some information about Shiori, and as comic relief. Basically, it's like a filler! We won't have a LOT of there, probably very few. We MIGHT even have one for Hitomi! :D**

Hitomi: "I can see it now... [holds up hands like picture frame] THE ADVENTURES OF HITOMI... SHIPPUDEN!"

Director: "CUT!"

Naruto: "Hey, wait a second! THAT'S NOT IN THE SCRIPT!"

**[facepalm]**

* * *

_*Authoresses(?) Comments*_

_Hahaha! That one omake in Shippuden with Asuma and Shikamaru, talking about their own shows, inspired that..._

_Anyway, everything in the mini-message at the top of the chapter is true, sadly. Sorry again!_

_If you're wondering about Izumo, he and Kotetsu are two of my favorite ninja, just because they're hilarious! (and pathetic!) And, I recently found out that Izumo's last name, Kamizuki, means "God Moon". So I thought, what the heck! He'll be related to Shiori! So, he was made Shiori's uncle, and her mother, Shira's younger brother. So yes, Shira Kamizuki was her original name. Where the hell is she..._**_  
_**

_And also, PLEASE check out our dA account! Link on the profile! We've uploaded a LOT!_

_They're awesome!_

_Some are by myself, and some are by Lucky!_

_You won't regret looking at them! :D_

_-Melpomene Black_

_-Lucky  
_


	6. Chapter 6

**SHANNARO! wE aRE bACK!**

**Extremely sorry for the huge wait, you know we love you guys...**

[Hitomi: Okay, and now it's back to my chapter! ^_^]

[Raiden: When do _I _get a chapter?]

[Shiori: Oh, you get a surprise this chapter, so don't worry!]

[Raiden: (narrows eyes in suspicion) Define "surprise."]

**Read and find out! On with the chapter! ^_^**

* * *

_Recap: Team 11 has left on their new mission, for which they have to travel to Kusagakure, the Village Hidden in the Grass. On the way, they meet a mysterious boy named Isao from Iwagakure, the Village Hidden in the Rocks, who lies through his teeth by nature! He asks where they're headed, and they tell him they're going to Amegakure, the Village Hidden in the Rain. Isao returns the way he came, and Team 11 continues to Kusagakure._

Chapter Six

We continued along the path to the Village Hidden in the Grass rather uneventfully from there. Slowly, the thickets of the forest deepened, and the path we followed through narrowed and seemed to vanish amidst the knee-high wild grasses, the road worn from years and years of weary travelers' crossings. Meanwhile, overhead, the trees' branches extended to intertwine with one another, conjoining so that the foliage overhead formed a canopy of sorts above us, shards of sunlight sifting through, filtered in by the slight gaps between overlapping leaves. These woods were certainly a lot denser than those we were accustomed to in Konoha, and it seemed almost unsettling to enter a forest that shielded you so completely from the sunlight and outside world, while plant life overran the terrain below.

"How'd these things get so tall?" I muttered, brushing aside the waist-high grass that had trespassed on the forest pathway.

"They don't call it 'Village _Hidden _in said_ Grass_ for nothing, Hitomi," Raiden smirked, which earned him the infamous Uchiha death glare.

"So, sensei, what's inside the scroll anyway?" I asked, finally voicing what we'd all been pondering aloud in an effort to change topics.

"Lord Hokage didn't say. All we know is that it's a very important mission and that it is _top priority _that we deliver it to this Kenshin friend of his," Satoru sighed, face twisted into a puzzled consternation.

"Perhaps it's got something to do with diplomacy," Shiori suggested. "We _are _allies and all…"

"It's true that Kusagakure is skilled in maintaining diplomatic relations, and that's kept them ahead of other villages' strategic maneuvers for years. But it could just be a list of our most recent attacks and abilities. The Hidden Grass is famous for analyzing other villages' jutsu. If you ever wanted to expand your knowledge of jutsu and their differences and creations, you'd definitely want to set up a base there to study; it's their specialty," Raiden said, leaving all of us in a stunned silence.

Myself, Shiori, and Satoru-sensei all stopped to stare incredulously at Raiden, who had spouted out all this sudden knowledge of the Hidden Grass like he'd just swallowed a textbook on Kusagakure.

Three kunoichi giggled from the trees above us, making their presence known. Triplets by the look of them, only a year or two older than ourselves, they shifted in their seats in the branches and gave Raiden a thumbs up, their brown pigtails flying.

"Where the hell did you learn all that?" I asked as we continued along the path, not really meaning to, but somehow needing to get the words out of my mouth anyway.

"The genin prep manual you get at the start of your final year at the Academy? What, no one else read that?" the bewildered genin asked as he turned to face each of us in turn like this was some sort of great crime. "No one else, no one else at all? _Just _me? Am I the only one that bothered to read that thing? Really, guys, seriously?"

Shiori shrugged indifferently. "I don't know, I guess I meant to, I just never got around to it…"

My brow furrowed, trying to recall such a manual.

Oh yes, I remembered now…

* * *

_Kazuhiro plopped down beside me while I was busy memorizing the chakra points on page 32. He grimaced at the sight of my narrowed eyes trying to make photographic memories of every single detail on the ornate illustration of the human body's chakra path. He shook his head in disbelief at me. _

_ "Oh, come on, Hitomi, you won't be a better ninja by just reading _this_ stuff…"_

_ "Really?" I asked in disbelief._

_ "Sure you won't!" he explained happily as he snatched the pre-genin handbook from me and gave it a careless toss into the forest behind us._

_ My eyes popped wide, and I was about to beat him senseless. "HIRO, WHAT THE HELL! I NEEDED THAT!"_

_ For some reason that was real amusing to him. "Oh, Hitomi, no one reads the _manual_," he laughed._

* * *

"No one reads the _manual_," I said to Raiden with a simple shrug by way of reply.

"Sadly, it's true," Satoru agreed with a sadistic smirk.

Raiden groaned at that. "Of course they don't…"

* * *

One mundane forest track, half a million "Are we there yet"s, nine apples chewed to the core, twenty sketches—half of which were in full color—six issues of Shonen Jump manga and numerous thwarted attempts to incinerate some annoyingly high grass with Fireball jutsu later, we finally reached our destination.

The Village Hidden in the Grass was of a fairly similar hideout to that of the Hidden Leaf, and the familiar overcrowded lively streets, apartment blocks, and Kage tower were of some measure of comfort to me. It was almost like a slightly altered version of our own home village.

"Well, now it's just a matter of finding the Kage of the Hidden Grass, and…mission complete!" Satoru-sensei practically sang aloud, though in an albeit toneless voice.

I groaned at that. "Well, this whole thing has been rather anticlimactic…" I muttered, disappointed with our turnout. "An overly dramatic thief, lots and lots, and lots of trees and grass, a rather dull trip, and I _still _haven't awakened my Sharingan yet…" I grumbled.

"That's because you don't _have _the Sharingan," Raiden muttered, casually turning the page of his manga.

I punched him in the stomach for that one. "Hey!"

Shiori was refining the detail of her shading and mumbled something to the effect of, "You guys had better behave," though she didn't at all mean it and had droned the comment more out of habit than as a scolding.

"Well, there are plenty of great Uchiha without the aptitude for Sharingan," Satoru-sensei said.

My eyes widened at that; I'd never heard of a powerful Uchiha who wasn't a Sharingan-wielder before. "Really? Who?"

"Well, there's…yes…and then there's…yes, there's a lot of them. Mm-hmm. Uh… Shiori, what is it you're drawing there? How'd you manage the depth…"

I stopped right in my tracks and sweatdropped at that. _Did he just…_ignore _me?_ I shook my head, but followed him again anyway. _I _knew _it; all great Uchiha have the Sharingan, they always do…especially— _

"Okay, fine, I guess you can sort of, possibly, maybe, almost _kinda _have the Sharingan," Raiden grumbled, noticing my downcast mood.

I rolled my eyes. "Wow, what a compliment. Thanks a lot…"

He heaved a great sigh. "Well…when you go to punch me sometimes, I occasionally think I see…maybe a little tiny glint of red in your eye…"

I couldn't help grinning at that. "Really? You think so?"

"Uh…" he rubbed the back of his neck, as if trying to convince himself. "Um…sure?"

"Sunshine, you're the best!" I gave him a playful punch in the ribs and ran ahead to catch up with Shiori, who was in the middle of unwillingly explaining the concept of different shading techniques to a rather insistent sensei—poor guy must be bored out of his mind.

I found it rather unnerving to be seated in the waiting room outside the Kodaichikage's office. Even if we weren't from that village, I couldn't help but fidget in my chair like Iruka-sensei has just sent me to the Hokage's office to be reprimanded as he'd occasionally threatened he'd do to some of my classmates.

* * *

So, to calm my nerves and convince myself that I'd done nothing to displease the Lord Kage of the Hidden Grass, I took the time to survey my surroundings. The kage's tower here was almost a carbon copy of our own Hokage Tower back at home if you looked at it from the outside. However, the inside layout had a slightly different format. We were at the top level of the tower where the kage, elders, and higher-up official overseers and any other vital advisors all resided. The chamber outside the kage's office, which served as a kind of waiting room—where we were lingering presently —had a high arching ceiling, with a U-shaped desk in the corner closest to the office's entrance. Its attendant was currently discussing some news about the latest elite jonin mission with the receptionist, who scribbled all this down and soon after sent a messenger hawk out the window. My vantage point at one of the nine chairs that lined the wall to the right of the office door also allowed me to look out into the windows opposite, which all displayed the hustle-bustle, thronging streets below.

My nerves were still racked at the thought of _me _being just outside of _the _kage of the Hidden Grass' office, and I began to rock back and forth on my chair and wish with all my might that Sensei would hurry up with his conference with the Kodaichikage already. How long could it take to hand over a stupid scroll anyway?

Someone tapped me and I spun around, tensed, ready to fight an enemy threat. Ready to whip out my kunai, despite all my anxiety, and go into full on battle mode, and—oh, it's just Shiori.

"Hey, relax," she smiled. "Unless of course you've got a secret plot to overthrow the government or something, there's nothing to worry about." she joked.

The receptionist seemed to notice how keen I was to leave as well, as she offered to go check on how my sensei's meeting was going for me. To which I replied with thanks and said that yes, I would appreciate that very much if she could.

"It's no trouble at all. But please, don't look like that, you might end up putting other visitors at unease," admonished the Grass-nin gently as she exited the waiting room.

To pass the time until she returned with Satoru-sensei, I leaned over towards the chair next to me, scanning Raiden's manga. "Whatcha' readin', Ray-chan?"

"It's a manga called _Death Note_," the boy replied absently, nonchalantly flipping through another page or two.

"Oh, well…that doesn't sound depressing at all…" I glimpsed a look at one of the panels and my eyes bugged in shock. "Why the hell is Satoru-sensei in there?"

"I always thought he looked kind of like Light Yagami," Raiden confided thoughtfully.

"Hey, let me see that, I think one of my friends used to read that," Shiori was now at his other side and pretty soon we were all reading different issues of _Death Note_, wondering at how someone like Light could look so similar to a guy like our sensei…I also noted the Shinigami's obsession with apples, which, come to think of it, reminded me a bit of Satoru as well…

That's when sensei finally emerged from the office with the assistant at his side. "Well, unfortunately, genin, it's not the best news. Apparently, the Kodaichikage of the Hidden Grass is temporarily away on business urgent to some rather strenuous diplomatic relations right now. So, we've decided that for the moment, it's best if I hang onto the scroll until he returns. Team 11 will just have to remain detained here for a few more days. So…uh…you'll have to find places to sleep and everything…or…we could just stay out in the woods…yeah, that works too. Well…enjoy your day off, I guess."

"Well, why doesn't your genin team head down to the marketplace? A lot of kids go there nowadays and they could have fun at the shops. It's something to pass the time, at the least," the assistant suggested.

Shiori shrugged. "I guess we could just look around. It's not like we have anything else to do."

Raiden rearranged and stuffed all his manga back into his pack. "Er…I'm not really the 'shopping' type, if you know what I mean…"

"Yeah, they'll probably have lots of useless trinkets and cheap tourist souvenir trash and stuff," Shiori agreed.

My ears perked up at that. "Useless trinkets and tourist souvenir trash? YES! I say we go!"

"I guess it doesn't hurt to look." Shiori smiled and turned back to sensei with a hopeful look. "Unfortunately, not having prepared for an extended trip, none of us have really brought much money, so…"

Sensei sighed and lazily threw down a single bill into Shiori's outstretched hand.

"…"

"…"

"You're a cheapskate sensei!" I accused.

"Fine," he put down two more bills. "And don't spend it all at once."

"We can't buy any manga with _this_," Raiden muttered.

"Kids these days," Satoru groaned. "So ungrateful…"

* * *

And that's how we found ourselves aimlessly wandering the marketplace of the Hidden Grass. We were "oohing" and "ahing" at all the useless little trinkets and overpriced paraphernalia we couldn't afford, gaping at anything that caught our eye, and acting like complete tourists.

That's when we saw none other than our old friend Isao of the Village Hidden in the Rocks up to his tricks again. The overdramatic actor plodded up and down the streets, hollering out at anyone who would stop to hear, "Please, I beg of you! You must help me, you _must_!" Then he'd wring his hands in the air in agony, crumbling to his knees in overplayed defeat. "My money's just been stolen, but I've ran away—my parents are ruthless, I can't just be expected to go back there!" Waterworks would follow and I noticed how pointedly he'd gaze at the glare of the scalding sun beaming down at us overhead to get that teary-eyed effect. "Please! I need money! I'll _starve_, and I can't stay here, my parents will find me!" He crawled about the streets, pulling on people sleeves and beseeching them for spare change. Isao seemed to especially like to cling to young female passersby when he bawled through his tale. Apparently, civilian girls are saps for a good sob story.

Eventually he worked his way over to us—we were still gaping at his performance—and collapsed with an outstretched hand reaching out in vain to Shiori, his fingers cringing as he did so. "Please…" he choked, voice croaking from well-rehearsed efforts to replicate that hoarse quality the tone of a broken man has. "Please, you have to help me, I nee—" but then, upon raising his head to look us in the eye for that puppy-dog plea aspect, recollection flashed across his eyes and he jumped up to his feet, wiping his stage tears aside and jovially crying out, "Oh, it's you!"

Every single person in the marketplace—male, female, adult, child, civilian and shinobi alike—stopped and stared at that.

"…"

"…"

"Idiot," I muttered.

Isao himself didn't quite understand, and he gave me a look of utmost befuddled perplexity. However, when he felt all the eyes suddenly trained at his back, he spun around to face his audience, who glowered down at him with looks that could kill.

And, naturally, the accusations began.

"You're nothing but a conman!"

"Never trust a ninja youngster…"

"You _scammed_ us!

"RIPOFF ARTIST!"

When the crowd of onlookers has dispersed, their money forcibly taken back, poor Isao still lay cringing in defeat on the pavement, and I was convinced that the civilians here were the toughest in all the Hidden Villages.

Just then, a girl with golden-brown hair to her shoulders and hanging over her caramel eyes raced over to us, the big bright red bow in her hair bobbing back and forth as she did so. "Damnit, I _told _you, Isao, you need to just learn to quit cheating people! It's rude, it's vial, and it's—" as she was helping Isao to his feet, she caught sight of us. Her cheeks flushed with color a bit and seemed to sort of shy away from us.

Now that she and Isao were standing next to each other, not only did they both seem around the same age, but they bore a striking resemblance to one another as well.

The older girl gave us a shy smile and tentative wave.

Isao grinned from ear to ear and jabbed a finger at the other girl. "This is my little—er, twin—sister," he corrected, flinching slightly under her intensive glare. "Anyway, her name's Akane. Akane, meet the guys that didn't rat me out. Potential rats, meet Akane."

"Hi, I'm Shiori." Akane timidly shook Shiori's outstretched hand. "Nice to meet you! I suppose you're the responsible one?" Her warm smile was returned by Akane's somewhat faint-hearted one.

"Hey, I'm Hitomi," my introduction began, accompanied with a rather enthusiastic wave. "It's great to mee—"

"Oh, wow, is your hair _green_? That's amazing! How'd you dye it so well?" Akane blurted out, apparently completely oblivious to the fact that I had been in the middle of my little intro. Still, I merely laughed it off—if a slightly altered, higher pitched, somewhat forced laugh—and tried again, despite the fact that it felt as though my pride were singed. (I mean, how would _you _feel if someone chose to ignore you because they were so impressed and intrigued by that gross, swampy green hair? Ugh!) "Well, actually, I think it's natural—I know, poor guy, I mean, how unfortunate right? But anyway I—"

"Wow!" Akane's eyes lit up, and she…did…did she just _blush_? "Uh…I mean, that's really unique, you know?"

Raiden, who, until this point had stared off disinterestedly into the distance—though I caught sight of him tightening his bandages when the mention of that bizarre hair pigmentation came up—now shuffled from foot to foot uncertainly, as if hesitant about something.

Finally, he decided to speak up. "Um…yeah, it's unique, I guess…" He turned around when he seemed to have mustered enough courage to, and my eyes widened at the sight of him pulling the bandages further down his face to conceal the heated scarlet hue his cheeks were beginning to flush.

"Oh, and I love your bandage-thingies too! They're so cool! What do you wear them for though? I mean, when you have hair like _that_, why hide it?"

Raiden went up on the ball of one foot and then back down, proceeding to awkwardly shift his weight in similar manner repeatedly. "I…er…I've worn them for a while now, I'm…uh…kinda used to it, you know?" He sounded like he was suddenly under a lot of pressure, like this was some kind of _really bad _situation that he'd gotten himself tangled up in and he wanted to get out of it _right now_.

Baffled by the cryptic behavior between the two, I glanced at each of them in turn, trying to read them. What…what in the hell was going on here, exactly?

Just then, Shiori gave me a friendly elbow in the ribs and mock winked. "I think Raiden's got an admirer," she whispered so that Akane and said Nagahara couldn't hear.

"Wait…What?" I whispered back, thinking I must've heard her wrong, but then Shiori just laughed and the "lovebird's" conversation continued.

"So, I haven't seen you around here! You're new to the Hidden Grass then, or just visiting?" she inquired, resting her arm on his shoulder in a friendly manner. Raiden's pretty tall, I have to admit, and both of them were about the same height. Though for some reason, my insides felt like they were flaring up at the seemingly casual gesture. I also didn't like the way she said 'you're new here' all peppy, but 'just visiting,' in such a dismal way—as though him not staying would be some sort of unfathomably heartbreaking disappointment to her.

"We have a small C rank mission—though it's been a bit delayed—so we're just stopping by," Shiori answered for him, and Raiden happily sighed, his countenance indicating that he was as relieved as though he were saved by the world's ultimate mortification.

"Oh, well…" Akane pulled a pouting face. "But, you'll still be around for a while now, right? Maybe I can give you a tour sometime—it's really quite a village we have here, uh…Leaf nin—"

"His name's Raiden," I cut in.

"Oh!" Her eyes were alight with admiration at that. "I simply _love _that name! So, anyway, you'll have to stop by our house sometime so that I can give you a tour before you leave, okay Raiden-kun?" She gave him a brilliant, confident smile, showing all her perfectly pearly white teeth, which seemed a bit annoying if you ask me.

Why was this sudden, overwhelming urge to rip that ridiculous, big and bright red ribbon off her head and shove it down her throat coming over me? My, I don't quite ever remember feeling _this _violent…well…maybe when I was around Sasuke-teme, and sometimes also Ino-pig, but still…

All the same, Raiden hadn't replied to her yet, he just sort of awkwardly stood there in her grip while his whole face flushed a brighter red than Akane's stupid ribbon.

"Well, I'll hold you to it, Raiden-kun," she insisted, affectionately pinching some of those infamously swamp green locks poking out of the bandaging, smiling brilliantly still.

"Uh…I…um…"

_Come on, Ray, tell her to go mess with someone else! _I thought viciously, my mouth thinning into a fine line as I forced back clenched teeth.

"Uh…I guess…er…"

_WHAT THE HELL, RAY! SINCE WHEN ARE YOU TAKING THE SIDE OF RANDOM STALKERS INSTEAD OF YOUR TEAMATES, HUH! COME ON, STRANGER-DANGER WAS TAUGHT IN LIKE THE SAME YEAR AS IKEBANA CLASS, DAMNIT, YOU SHOULD _KNOW _THIS STUFF ALREADY! She doesn't even know you, she's like four years older, she's calling you Raiden-"kun"—oh, yeah, that's completely normal and SO not a creeper worthy definition at all!_

"Good!" Smile gleaming once again, she reached into a leather satchel at her side and, once having undone the buckle, she fished out a scrap of paper and dull lead stick. After scribbling something down, she tucked it between the overlapping folds of Raiden's bandages, which I found to be a bit queer, though Shiori and Akane both giggled at the dumbfounded look on Ray's face as he strained his eyes to look up at the message.

"Now, don't you forget to stop by so that I can give you that tour, alright? There's so many things to do here, it's an awesome place to live. Believe me; you'll love it, Raiden-kun!" Her cheeks somewhat tinged with a pinkish flush, she flashed another perfect teeth smile—does that girl _ever _stop smiling?—and went over to her brother, shouting, "Hey! I _told _you not to try anymore scams!" when Isao was right in the middle of another sob story, causing him to be whacked by several people's purses, kicked in the shin (and called a "RIPOFF ARTIST!"), as well as to be soundly beaten by a very determined eight-year-old's teddy bear.

We sweatdropped through the entire spectacle and responded with only halfheartedly raised palms when Akane cheerily waved to us as she dragged Isao off by the ear. His protests and indignant cries weren't even drowned out by the marketplace's shuffling hustle and bustle and insistent chatter until he was a rather considerable distance away.

"What…the hell?" I spit out the words in disgust.

"That was the most _uncomfortably, awkwardly embarrassing _moment of my _entire existence_," Ray groaned in dismay, unwrapping and rewrapping the surface layer of his bandages again and again compulsively.

Shiori patted Raiden on the head. "He's already got a girlfriend…my…they grow up so fast!" she sniffled, giving her best impression of one of Isao's sob stories.

Raiden glared at her, but then undid some of his bandaging and removed the slip of paper Akane had tucked into his gauze. "It's…her address," his whole face flushed with color as he spoke, and I felt like I could've pummeled both him and that Akane upside the head right then.

Grinding down my teeth in—in what? Rage? Agitation? Frustration?—I snapped the paper from his hands and proceeded to shred it to pieces.

Raiden just stared, unsure of what to think. "Uh…thanks?"

"You're damn welcome," I grumbled, sauntering off, though I didn't miss Shiori playfully elbowing Raiden in the ribs and jokingly confiding, "It's alright, I've already got the address memorized—photographic memory comes in handy sometimes."

I rolled my eyes when I heard that, but let it go without making a comment all the same. Shiori, Mariko, and Kazuhiro were probably the only people that could get away with teasing me, so naturally they'd take full advantage of any opportunities that came along. Still, I was beginning to regret that I'd done something as impulsive as ripping up that paper, because I knew that that wouldn't be the end of it.

"Maybe later today we should go see Akane—or maybe just Raiden should. Either way, maybe she and Isao can help us find this Kenshin Sakamoto," Shiori suggested.

"Hn." WAIT…oh dear Kami-sama…did I just…I just _Hn_'d, didn't I? …hell…I'm so irritated I'm turning into Sasuke… _Oh dear Kami-sama, I BESEECH of you, PLEASE don't make me go through a Sasuke-teme phase! _

"Say, Raiden, did you hear that?" Shiori pointed at me. "It sounds like _someone's _gone Sasuke on us! Or worse…maybe she's…" Shiori whispered something in Raiden's ear, and he looked dumbfounded first, but soon enough burst out laughing.

"What?" I whirled around. "What did you say, I'm what?" I demanded. _What could be worse than _Sasuke_-teme? _I wondered incredulously, shuddering at the mere thought of such a vial existence plaguing the world.

"Hitomi, I had no idea that you _felt _that way about me!" Raiden joked, unable to keep from snickering at me for some unfathomable reason.

Okay, now I was _really _confused.

"_Heh_?" I managed to say, if strangled sounding incoherent noises could be considered saying something.

"Jealousy is a terrible thing," Raiden tsked.

I took a while then for me to put two and two together.

But when I finally did, I was mad as hell at Raiden. "YOU LITTLE—!"

It was only when I raced up to him that he smirked and simply said, "_You're _the little one, Hitomi." At hearing that, I looked up at him, and then back down at my own two feet. Well, okay, he had a point there. He was unusually tall, almost gangly for some reason. No wonder a sixteen-year-old girl had talked to him; she probably thought he was at least fourteen or something.

However, Shiori looked surprised at his comment as well. "That's going a bit too far, Raiden. You do realize that even if your name means 'thunder god', you're not immortal… right?" Then she gave a small smile. "Even if she _is_ the _tiniest bit_ jealous—"

My eyes burst open wide and I proceeded to stomp the ground like a child having a tantrum. "I. AM. NOT. JEALOUS!"

They both burst out laughing, (though Shiori was trying to restrain herself), like seeing me nearly through a tantrum was the funniest thing in all the world and I felt compelled to try punching Raiden hard enough to take off a few inches so I could glare at him at proper eyelevel.

"Hitomi, don't worry about it! These feelings are perfectly normal! Wait, that came out wrong…" Shiori raised her hands in a gesture of surrender. "I mean… you're just very territorial about your friends and I kind of feel the same wa—"

"Hell, for the last time, I am _not jealous_. Besides, why would I be jealous of Sunshine when I have Itachi-sama to worry about?" I countered.

"Ah, yes! Prince Charming, how could I ever forget?" Shiori grinned.

"Who?" Raiden said blankly.

"Oh, come on; don't tell me you don't know about _the _Itachi Uchiha," I hissed, ready to slap this guy upside the head. First he's arrogant enough to tease me about jealousy, and then he didn't even know who Itachi-sama was? What the hell was wrong with this guy, seriously?

"He's a missing S-Rank nin that Hitomi's apparently infatuated with, even though he's like five years older than us," Shiori explained casually.

"Wait…_what_? Why in the hell would Hitomi be—"

"Wait, it gets better. Oh, can I borrow that?" She pointed at the _Death Note _issue hanging limply in Raiden's grasp. Mechanically, he handed it over. "Thanks, I never got to finish reading this issue." She opened it up and flipped through a few pages to find her place. "Anyway, as I was saying, it gets better. This S-Rank missing nin guy just so happens to be Sasuke's older brother."

"He's _what_? How in the hell can anyone care about someone related to that coldhearted, stoic—"

Okay, that's it, I've heard about enough out of Ray-chan. Heaving a great sigh of frustration, I slapped him upside the head as hard as I could, which jerked his head in the completely opposite direction, his face beginning to redden from the impact.

"He's nothing like that _teme_," my voice was venomous, and I felt like giving Raiden another slap for good measure.

"Yes, he is NOTHING like that teme." Shiori agreed with a firm nod. "Perhaps we should start shopping? We need to meet up with Satoru-sensei again and find out where we're staying and everything," Shiori continued, effectively changing the topic, also nervously glancing at Raiden's cheek.

"Fine…uh…are you done with that, yet?" Raiden looked over Shiori's shoulder, who backed up a little and held the manga at an angle that kept him from reading it. "Hey, L just revealed himself, okay? I'm getting to the good part; I'll give it back to you when I'm done…"

* * *

**Yeah... Raiden, you're not getting that manga back...  
**

[Raiden: "Awww..."]

**Shiori's a bit of a sadist... Human torture and all...**

[Raiden: e_e]

**Hey, you could always buy another one!**

[Raiden: -_- (holds up sensei's bill) "With THIS?"]

**...Good point... Well, it's not like Shiori's going to keep it, she's a fast reader.**

[Raiden: "Whatever..." (walks away solemnly)]

**Well that was rather** **uneventful.**

* * *

**Guys, we have a Twitter account for NarutoTeam11! Check it out for new ideas we have, as well as updates on what we're working on for our beloved genin!**

[Shiori/Hitomi: ^^]

[Raiden: e_e]

**Check our profile for the link! We'll be posting some goodies about the genin as well... :D**

* * *

**Edit: First section, one paragraph added.  
**


	7. Chapter 7

**Hi! It's another Hitomi chapter this week, and you'll understand why once you read our notes at the end of this chapter. Enjoy!**

[Sakura: "CHAAAA! YEAH, YOU'D BETTER ENJOY!"]

[Hitomi: "Sakura, I'm pretty sure it's not allowed to threaten the readers."]

**Yeah, it is...**

**Anyway, enjoy! :D**

* * *

_Recap: After their sensei sends Team 11's genin off into town, with only a few ryō each, they meet none other than Isao of Iwagakure! He makes a rather foolish show of himself in town, and Team 11 spots him. They also meet Isao's more responsible and trustworthy twin sister, Akane. And it seems that Akane has taken a liking to our dear genin, Raiden! Even though both she and Isao are about 4 year older than the Leaf genin. After Team 11 and the twins go seperate ways, Hitomi's jealousy is revealed! Well, that's not really true, is it? But more importantly, and more true, Hitomi's connection to S-rank Missing nin Itachi Uchiha is revealed!_

Chapter Seven_  
_

While making our way through the central marketplace, we saw all sorts of curious little shops lining the walkway. There were stands where elderly nin predicted your fortune, shops that sold all sorts of baubles and little trinkets and one with exotic pets—as well as ninja dogs, ninja kittens, ninja weasels, ninja—WAIT!

I grabbed the back of my teammates' shirts and steered them towards the weasel nin counter, admiring the sets of caged, sleek furred, cutesy little, gleaming-eyed creatures. An especially mischievous long, white furred one with a black tipped tail caught my eye, and I found myself poking my finger through the cage with the inquisitiveness of a little girl.

"That rat's going to bite your finger off," was the first thing my oh-so-polite friend Ray-chan said.

I stood up, removed my finger from the cage, and elbowed him in the ribs. "It is NOT a rat, it is a WEASEL, an _itachi_, you know…"

Shiori smiled and shook her head like she'd heard this argument a thousand times before, which, indeed, now that I think back to all my past rants, she probably had.

But I let the subject drop at that and, with a last little wave to all the adorable, infatuating little critters, followed the other two back down through the streets. It was a calm and pleasant walk filled with street performances, curio shops, and bizarre sights along the way. And I was perfectly alright with all that until suddenly, this abomination of a scent assaulted my nostrils in the most loathsome way. _Perfume_. Ugh. Personally, I never really knew what people saw in it—but maybe that was just because the overbearing scents always easily made me nauseous and queasy. I get a migraine just looking at those bottles, for Kami-sama's sake. I turned and saw Shiori with a similarly twisted face, but Raiden remained unaffected and oblivious.

Unable to bear the disdainful scent, I just stopped walking right then and there, covered my nose, and coughed real loud right in front of the perfume seller's stand. My hand accidentally hit the table and a small glass bottle or two took a nosedive to the floor, shattering into a million and one pieces upon impact, causing the two brown-haired twins examining the bottles next to me to yelp in surprise. There was this girl behind the counter, and she looked about the same age as myself, actually. Scowling, she pushed the pair of ugly, outdated square-framed black glasses farther up the bridge of her nose, face reddening in agitation. With an extravagant gesture, she swept her hand across the row of perfectly stacked, pristinely cleaned glass bottles. "My wares don't come cheap, idiot. You break it, you buy it. So I hope your parents can cover this for you." Her voice reminded me of…a pig. Yes, that's it, that's exactly it—a squealing little annoying redhead piglet. That's what she was.

"Whoa, take it easy there, I'm sorry, already," I amended, feeling nothing of the sort. "But I mean, really, you shouldn't just be airing this stuff out in the street; what if people are allergic or something?"

"'I'M SORRY' AIN'T GONNA CUT IT! IT AIN'T PAYING MY BILLS EITHER SO YOU HAD BETTER GET ME THAT MONEY RIGHT NOW!" she screeched like a miniature, super annoying, flaming-haired banshee.

A vein throbbed from my aggravation then, I swear. "HEY, I _SAID _I'M SORRY AND I'LL PAY FOR YOUR GOD AWFUL, NAUSEATING, GASEOUS CHEMICAL WASTE PRODUCTS! YOU JUST TELL ME THE PRICE AND SHUT THE HELL UP!" I roared right back, unable to contain myself any longer.

By this point, Raiden had covered up his ears and starting to walk away whistling as if to say, "Yep, I don't know that crazy girl…" Shiori sweatdropped and muttered to herself, "Nauseating, gaseous chemical waste products? Where in the heck did she get a phrase like that? Though I agree completely…"

Perhaps an all out brawl would've ensued between us then, but the possibility of a death combat duel was prolonged when a bystander, apparently fed up with our argumentative personalities, decided to intervene.

"What's all the trouble, Karin?" A man that looked the age that he could pass as the girl's father stopped in front of the piglet-girl's stand.

"This _moron _broke two bottles of _Lavender Essence_!"

The man, who seemed to have painstakingly familiar golden-brown hair and caramel eyes, shook his head like he'd heard this argument time and time again. "Alright, Karin, just tell her the price and let her pay it."

The redhead, Karin, looked as if she were about to open her mouth and spit out some more acrimonious comments of hers, but decided better of it. Relenting, under the watchful gaze of the other man—who seemed to be used to keeping her in line—she swept up the mess of shattered glass and slammed a scrap of paper onto the countertop of her stand. Looking at it, I did a double-take, and reread the price several times over. It costs _that much_ for nauseating, gaseous chemical waste products? No way…

I choked up something of a strangled cry, and, at hearing the odd noise and glimpsing the contorted look on my face, Shiori snapped up the receipt from my cringing fingertips and groaned. Raiden sauntered back over, took one look at it, laughed, and dug around in his pockets. A moment later, his hand emerged victoriously clasping the money he'd owed me for the headsets and counted out the bills in front of Karin as he placed them on the counter.

"You're going to need it," he muttered when he'd paid out his small debt.

I gave Shiori an apologetic look, and she "donated" some—all—of her money to me as well. Between the three of us, we managed to scrape up the money we owed her, but we were completely broke afterwards.

Karin lounged back in the seat of her stand and called out to us as we turned to leave, "Thank you, come again!" fanning out the money as she did so. Her voice was so sickeningly sweet that, when I heard it, I wanted to just turn around and strangle her.

"Just ignore her, it's not worth it," Shiori muttered as we started to walk away.

"Wait!"

At hearing the call, all three of us instinctively turned around to see the man who'd managed to quell Karin's anger panting as he ran up to us. He stuck out his hand and, with a smile, said, "You'll have to forgive Karin; she's rather trying on everyone's patience these days. But she's going through a hard time. She's not from around here you know, and rumor has it her village was entirely destroyed …" A small pang of guilt twitched in the pit of my stomach, but I did my best to ignore it. "Please, try to not to antagonize her to much, it isn't all her fault you know…I'm supposed to be helping to care for her, and all, so…well, I apologize for her behavior anyway. Unfortunately, I have to leave for a mission now. So long!" and then, in an enormous leap he seemed to disappear and was gone, off flickering through the rooftops as ninja often did.

The three of us looked back at the irritable redhead readjusting her counter before turning bipolar and embodying pep by becoming the most bubbly perfume saleswoman I've ever seen—which isn't exactly saying much, considering how few of them I _have _seen, but still. All the same, I wondered if that smile of hers was as real as Akane's, or perhaps there was a tear flowing veiled beneath that hollow grin. _Rumor has it her village was entirely destroyed…_well, I knew what that was like, and I'd never want to go back to that point of my life ever again. After the Uchiha massacre, all kinds of questions aroused and I was even called into interrogation. I remember being so petrified that the ANBU had to remove their masks, hide all their…er…profession's "equipment", and let me and Sasuke be in the same room while we gave our varying eyewitness accounts because their presence was just too intimidating; I was scared half witless and could barely even stutter at first. But worse than the probing ANBU were the other nin, who were just about as clueless as the civilians and gossiped twice as much. How idiotic they are, thinking that you can't hear them behind your back—especially when they start to talk about your clan's massacre as casually as though it were the latest news. Worse yet, they acted as though Itachi-sama was some kind of psycho serial killer. Memories of sinking behind my desk as they spoke such vile untruths about my childhood hero still haunted me, and I wondered if this Karin girl had felt the jabs of people's prying remarks and uneducated, rather opinionated statements as much as I had. Perhaps it was because I felt somewhat akin to her now that I knew she had suffered a similar loss, but whatever the reason, I groaned and, swallowing my pride—which is damn near impossible for both Uchiha and Yamanaka alike—I took a few attentive steps forward, then a few more, this time more confidently, and eventually, I found myself halting with determination right in front of Karin's stand, face-to-face with the redheaded she-demon herself.

Shiori gaped back at me and looked half ready to scream that I was out of my mind for attempting to converse in polite, cordial mannerisms with this psycho. Raiden merely flipped to another page of his manga.

"What do _you _want? Need some perfume, I suppose? Well, let me tell you, a bath would be a better idea—cheaper too."

Inhaling deeply, I forced myself to count backwards from ten, relax, and ignore the nauseating concoctions displayed before my cringing nostrils.

"Well…what would you recommend?" I bit out the words through teeth clenched into a smile, but Karin didn't seem to notice the insincerity and just set right to work.

"Well, you see, the reason why I'm so good at this—matching everyone to the right perfume, you see—is because I can sense their chakra signature, so I know _exactly _what sort of scents they need to enhance—or mask—that signature." She perused her wares with an observant eye.

"Really? You can do that? That's amazing! I mean, I can kinda feel things even though I'm only a genin because I'm a Yamanaka, but I can't really _differ _the chakra signatures from one another all that well; even my teammates' bloodline can allow her really enhanced sensory perception, but it's _nothing_ like what you can do; I mean, you can, like, _smell _them? How?"

Karin swelled with pride, and she tossed her unruly reddish-pinkish, rather Sakura-ish hair in no effort to put up a show of modesty. "Well, I _am _one of the world's greatest sensors, or so I've been told by the Kage of the Hidden Grass. And it's almost like a chakra takes on a kind of embodiment for me, and just by judging from their scent, I can _see through _the person—I mean, like, to their soul and intentions. The scent a person's chakra gives personifies their personality. A chakra can even warp, in a sense, if its owner were to become somewhat mental and demented."

"Really?" I pictured Sakura and Ino having these sickeningly bubbly pink auras glowing around them, and even envisioned Sasuke walking around with a perpetually raining charka-storm cloud hanging over his sulky head. "So then you've seen a person's chakra change when they went crazy or evil before? That's so cool!"

"Well, yes," she rubbed her temples. "Uh…let me think…once, twice…maybe five or six times, I _think_, but I don't know—the second guy might've just always been messed up in the head…but anyway, it's like, your chakra gets all dark and threatening, sort of similar to when you see ominous storm clouds gathering overhead. A chakra can even give you the chills or seem to pull you into the 'darkness' if it's gone bad enough."

"Wow! That's got to be a really unique ability," I didn't even have to feign interest anymore; I was genuinely intrigued by this bizarre chakra sensing skill of hers, even if she was a redhead bipolar banshee that squealed like a pig.

"Not really. I mean, not to me, it's not. It's sort of second nature now. I see, I hear, I feel, I taste, I smell, and I sense. It just becomes another one of my natural perceptions, and it's not like I can really 'turn it off or on' like other abilities, it's just always there, so not much concentration is involved, which is why I mastered it at such a young age." Here, she returned to browsing her perfume stocks. "Well, since you'll have to be miserly about your spending, I'd have to recommend…ah, here it is," she plucked a miniscule, glass blue bottle off one of the precariously stacked pyramids of perfumes on her overcrowded stand and offered it to me.

My face scrunched up as I read the fancy lettering scrolled across the flashy golden label on the bottle. "_Ocean Mist_…er…what does that _mean_ exactly?"

"Don't worry about it—trust me, it'll do you wonders. Never mind what's in it, it's the effect of the ingredients that counts…I'm hoping it'll contradict your scent…"

"Why? What does my chakra smell like?" I asked, expecting her to say that it was like an exotic flower or rare tropical location or something like that.

"To be blunt, you smell horribly like something always _burning_," she grunted.

"I smell…like something burning?" I asked, crestfallen.

"Yeah, which is _not _a compliment, so just do me a favor and take this. I won't even charge you for it; I just can't stand talking next to you when you _reek_ like that."

_Would it still be alright to punch her in the face even if I_ was _getting free stuff?_ I wondered to myself.

* * *

_Meanwhile…_

Shiori shook her head in awe. "I don't believe it…those two haven't bitten each other's heads off yet. They actually seem to be exchanging pleasantries and…oh, is Hitomi actually…_buying perfume_?" She smiled and shook her head once more. "Will wonders ever cease?"

"Hey, Shiori, can ask you something?" Raiden asked, shuffling uncertainly from foot to foot. He was only half paying attention to the commotion that was beginning to unfold at the perfume stand, which Shiori couldn't help but laugh at. ("What do you mean I smell? AND WHAT'S WRONG WITH SOMETHING BURNING!" "It's _REVOLTING_ THAT'S WHAT'S WRONG!" "FIRE HAPPENS TO BE THE PRIDE OF MY CLAN!" "SINCE WHEN IN THE HELL DO YAMANAKA USE FIRE STYLE!" "HOW IN THE HELL WOULD YOU EVEN _KNOW _THAT! _CREEPER!_")

"Sure, what's your problem?" Shiori took a seat at one of the stools at a restaurant stands to her right, ready to play therapist, something she was rather practiced and apt at.

"Well…there's this girl…" he began awkwardly, then facepalmed himself, which pretty much entirely answered the question in vivid detail for Shiori.

"You're talking about Akane, aren't you?" Shiori sighed, even though she knew that she was supposed to be there for moral support and all.

"Hey! If that's the kind of help I wanted I would've gone and asked Hitomi!" he snapped at her, red rising in his face.

"Sorry, but it seems Hitomi's busy at the moment. I wouldn't risk interrupting her if I were you." ("YOU SQEAL LIKE A PIG!" "YOU ROAR LIKE A LION!" "HA! I TAKE THAT AS A _COMPLIMENT!_" "YOU'RE SUCH A MORON!" "I WIN!" "THAT'S NOT A COMEBACK!" "HELL YEAH, IT IS!")

Raiden sweatdropped. "…good point."

"Anyway, I'll try to help as best I can. But trust me, she already notices you enough, so if you're worried about something ridiculous like that—"

"No, see, _that's _the problem," he groaned. "She seemed a little…overbearing, didn't she? I feel like if I were ever to try and talk to her she'd just drown me in compliments and gifts and stuff. You know, just kill me with kindness…I wouldn't mind being friends with her and all, and maybe I'd consider a relationship if I knew her better and if she stopped acting so…I don't know…like a fangirl, I guess? So how do I tell her to just…well…back off?"

Shiori blinked in confusion and slowly slid her therapy stool backwards. "R-Raiden? I-It's only been a few hours… and you're worried about relationships? You're only 12 years old! You're younger than ME!"

"But—"

"What the hell kind of manga do you read!"

A brown-haired set of mother and daughter passed us, glancing at Raiden after my outburst.

* * *

_Back with Hitomi…_

"Well, fire jutsu is vital to my clan because I am _also_ of the legendary clan of the Uchiha," I elaborated, unable to keep the pride and sense of superiority from my tone.

It was like flicking a switch, and suddenly, Karin's entire outlook about me seemed to change completely.

She glared at the two brown-haired twins next to me and told the to beat it, and that she was closing up shop, earning her two disdainful sniffs as both girls walked away arm in arm. Then she turned back to me.

"You're from the Uchiha? Seriously? That's amazing! I mean…You're Yamanaka and yet…You're an Uchiha as well? Then you must have the Sharingan, right?" she gasped, looking me over as if in awe of my very Uchiha-ness presence.

_Hell no_, but thanks to my hubris, of course I said, "Well, hell yeah! Who _wouldn't _have it if they were a great Uchiha?"

Somehow, I knew that was going to haunt me, and speculated for a moment as to how such a lie might come back and bite me later on.

"Amazing! We should hang out sometime; I've never met someone from both the Yamanaka and Uchiha line before, that's so interesting! I mean, to have the Sharingan naturally but only be half Uchiha! I mean, the Uchiha certainly have one of the most renowned bloodline limits, don't they? Tell me, what's it like to be only half Uchiha and have a natural bloodline? Is it harder to control…?"

_ Um…bipolar much? A few minutes ago, wasn't she just about to shriek and yell and squeal like a pig and rip my head off?_

"Well, of course we do! We're one of the greatest clans there is!" Well, no lies there, at least.

"Yes…I pity you, though…I mean, now you must be about the only one left…after what happened with the massacre, I mean…" she trailed off and got this faraway like in her eyes, and I had a feeling that she was reconnecting the words with her own past of a seeing such a similar slaughter of her people.

"That's alright, I mean….it was a long time ago, you know? And I'm sorry to hear of what happened to your village, but how did you know of what happened to my clan when you live way out here?"

Karin grimaced at that. "Well, it's just as you've said. The Uchiha have gained quite a reputation for themselves, now haven't they? I highly doubt there is a single Hidden Village that hasn't at least heard rumors about the massacre…"

"Oh," I just said. "But you know…none of what you've heard is probably true. I keep trying to tell people that Itachi just _couldn't _be the one behind the massacre. I mean, not if you knew and grew up with him like I did when I was little. But, of course, no one believes me…"

Karin's eyes widened. "So you don't even harbor a grudge against the guy that wiped out your entire clan? I mean, that's awfully big of you to forgive him and all, but still, I mean—"

"Itachi wasn't behind it. I know it. There was someone else there that night, I just _know _there was," I sighed, suddenly feeling exhausted. "And I'm going to get stronger, and figure out a way to find Itachi-sama, and then I'll find out what really happened and why he had to leave." I half wondered why the hell I was telling some random Grass nin this—maybe because of the possibility that she'd gone through something similar, and I liked the idea of having someone to relate to. Maybe I just needed to let all this out before I burst, and maybe I just needed to vent. But whatever the reason, it was nice to talk about Itachi-sama like this, the way he _should _be talked about, not as if he were a clan-killer and nothing more. As if he'd done some kind of ultimate betrayal and his whole entire existence had revolved around that. But such was how narrow-minded both civilians and ninja alike were in the Hidden Leaf.

"I understand," Karin smiled, and for a moment, I wondered if someone as god-awful as her had truly sympathized with me, and contemplated what I thought about that. "This Itachi must really be something, then…"

"Oh, yeah," here, I laughed somewhat airily and felt myself blush slightly. "I hero-worshipped the guy…but then, I suppose I still do that…"

We both laughed.

"Itachi was a powerful Sharingan user, too, now wasn't he? I mean, I've heard of him for that. Your clan's bloodline is actually a personal interest of mine. I've always found the Sharingan fascinating, you know—my sensei especially is passionate about his studies in that field…he could learn a thing or two more if he were to examine you, I bet—you're an interesting case, after all—there aren't many people from famous clans these days, and even less from combined powerful lineages."

"Oh, well…um…thanks…I guess…" _What the heck is it with this girl and the Sharingan? She's almost worse than I am! _

"Hey, Hitomi!" I turned to see my teammates calling for me. "Hey, Hitomi, time to go!" Shiori added.

"Alright, alright! Coming! I'll be there in a sec!" I turned to leave but then Karin said, "I'd like to make you an offer sometime about how you might be able to complete your goal. You seem to need my help, and I can defiantly use some help from you. If you're interested, stop by here tomorrow and I'll tell you my plan. Agreed?"

_Her…her _plan_? Concerning _what_? And what does she mean she can help me with my 'goal'? Was she referring to finding Itachi or finding out the truth, or was it something else entirely?_

Well, only one way to find out.

"Agreed," I repeated hesitantly.

But before I turned to leave, I tried to penetrate her mind and gather some more details; I didn't like the way she'd warmed up to me all of a sudden at the mere mention of the Uchiha name, and her sudden politeness just seemed…well, _wrong_. However, I couldn't read her mind for the life of me. Whatever kind of mental barrier she'd erected, it was strong enough to keep me out.

"Sorry," Karin smiled slyly, apparently acting all smug because I was unable to read her mind. "But you'll just have to find out about my plans tomorrow. No sneak previews, sorry! That would ruin the surprise, after all…"

_How did a genin stop me from entering her mind? _I looked Karin over once more before running back over to my friends. _Well, whoever she is, she's no ordinary genin, that's for sure…_

* * *

**Yeah, I think we all pretty much know Karin's no ordinary genin, eh?**

[Hitomi: "I swear, the next time I see that girl, I'll-"]

[Raiden: "Well, that happens next chapter, so sit tight."]

[Hitomi: "OH, JUST SHUT UP!"]

[Raiden: -_-''']

**e_e**

* * *

_*Authoresses(?) Comments*_

_Hi! Over our break we wrote 5 VERY long chapters, so we literally dissected them, and ended up with 10 chapters! They might be a bit short, but they'll always be more than 4000 words. ^^ Uh... I think... either that or 3500, but I don't want to check right now..._

_-Melpomene Black (Shiori)  
_

_And because they're all dissected and cut up, there'll be a few consecutive chapters with the same POV, so hang in there!_

_-Lucky (Hitomi)_

**Edit: ****Two sentences added, one in first section, another in second section.**_  
_


	8. Chapter 8

**Why, hello! It's yet another Hitomi chapter! And a rather enjoyable and humorous one at that...**

**Enjoy! :)**

* * *

_Recap: The three Konoha genin meet a rather interesting kunoichi from the Hidden Grass, known just as Karin. And she seems to have taken a particular interest to Hitomi! She tells Hitomi that she'll help her to attain her goal. But what goal is Karin speaking of?_

Chapter Eight_  
_

The three of us met up with Satoru-sensei back at the Kage Tower when we'd finished our little shopping and sightseeing trip. Raiden had bought himself a Mangaka kit that was at a discounted price—though he ended up giving it to me and Shiori to share after many failed drawing attempts—Shiori had gotten some new jutsu scrolls, and I had my free perfume bottle and a miniature hourglass (which was more like a minute-glass) with sand dyed purple. Of course, I tilted it back and forth the entire walk back to the Kage's Tower, and naturally, Raiden just had to remark that it just about measured the size of my attention span. So it was an easily entertained (hourglass turning) Uchiha, a chastised Raiden, and a jutsu-memorizing Shiori that arrived before our surprised sensei. ("You guys got all of that with just 150 ryō?")

Thankfully, it was good news for us. Satoru had booked us two rooms at an inn. He and Raiden would take one and Shiori and I had the other. We were all elated at the thought of not having to sleep in the forest for a few nights, and it would've been a rather good day from then on, if not for…

As we were checking in at the main desk of the inn, one of the attendants walked up to Raiden and inquired as to whether or not he was Raiden of the Hidden Leaf. When a perplexed Ray-chan replied that, yes, that was him, the attendant scurried behind her desk and soon returned with a bouquet of roses that she handed him. "A girl named Akane left them for you here at the desk earlier this afternoon—you know, Isao's twin, the one with that big red bow in her hair? Smiles a lot?"

Raiden's whole face flushed burning crimson, and he managed to stumble out a rather awkward "thank you" before swiping the keys from sensei and running off to his room. On his way there, he tossed the bouquet to Satoru and told him to just hold onto it for a bit. He was gone in a flash, and sensei didn't even have time to protest. As we heard one of the doors of the inn slam, Satoru shook his head and handed the bouquet off to me, telling me to look after it, since he'd better go check on Raiden…and make sure that he wasn't going to be locked out of his room for the night.

Glaring down at the flowers, I clamped my fist as tight and choking around their stems as I could, and low and behold, right then and there, the bouquet of roses simply burst into flames and sifted through my white knuckled grasp as mere cinders onto the tiled flooring of the inn.

"…"

"…"

"EPIC!" I tried to see if I could set things on fire again—much to passerby civilians' and Shiori's dismay ("You can't just go around spontaneously combusting peoples' places of business, Hitomi!") but to no avail; the fire had died in my grasp along with those dreaded roses.

* * *

It wasn't until we'd gone into our room that I decided to relay to Shiori my odd conversation with Karin. "…and I mean, I don't know what she's up to, but it all sounds really suspicious, now doesn't it?"

Our room had a set of bunk beds (Yes! I love those! Dibs on the top bunk! I called it, I saw it first, and I called it, its _mine_!) Shiori wisely decided to set her things down at the bottom bunk when she saw my excitement about the top one. Taking a seat on the bottom bunk, she pondered everything I'd said, and then she simply replied, "I told you that girl was one hell of a freak."

"I know! But what should I do?"

"Hmm…well, go see her tomorrow and find out what this is all about. If we know why she thinks she can use your help, then we can have a better idea of how to act."

"Alright…"

"Don't worry, Raiden and I will go to the marketplace and wait for you. If anything happens, we'll be right there, okay?"

"Okay," I sighed in relief, reassured. "Sounds good."

* * *

We went to the guys' room the next morning to tell them about our plan concerning Karin, but found that sensei wasn't there. Apparently, he'd been called away on some sort of urgent matter concerning a missing nin's hidden base in the area. He'd also left Raiden the scroll to look after, since he didn't know when he'd be back or how perilous the mission could be. After Raiden had said all this, and we'd explained everything to him, he looked down at me and asked with slightly reddening cheeks, "So…where are the flowers? Satoru-sensei said he gave them to you."

"Oh, yeah. Right, weeeeell…they got incinerated…Sorry about that," I shrugged.

Raiden sweatdropped at that. "Oh, well…um…okay, then…Do I want to know?"

Shiori smiled. "Nope. Probably not."

"Well…er…okay then. Let's just go, then. I guess…"

* * *

As we arrived in the marketplace, we met up with Isao, who gave us some gifts on his sister's behalf. I got a ninja weasel ownership certificate (YES! I was going to own a ninja weasel! Whoooo! Wait…why didn't I like Akane, again?). Shiori was given an entire palette of paints and scrolls and other artist supplies, and Raiden got several new issues of manga. Apparently, Isao said, his "little" sister had wanted to make us all feel welcome in the Hidden Grass, and not to forget to stop by and visit her. We waved him off, questioned how she knew of our interests, then told him not to worry, and finally started towards Karin's stand.

"Hey…I'd be careful with that if I were you," Shiori warned, scrutinizing my scroll which would soon be trained in for my very own little weasel. "Why?" I asked, not comprehending what could possibly be wrong with it. I mean, not that I trusted Akane, but she wouldn't but a hex on my scroll or something…er…would she?

"This is why," Shiori reached into Raiden's knapsack and pulled out the Hokage scroll, then held it next to mine. Ray and I just stood there gaping in amazement. The two scrolls were identical. "We don't want to get them mixed up," Shiori explained, handing our scrolls back to us.

After we promised that we wouldn't, I walked over to Karin's stand.

She smiled at me, but it seemed like a snake's smile, now that I thought about it. "So, you came to see about my offer, right?"

"Yeah, so what's this crazy plan of yours?" I muttered, hoping that I could just punch her and walk away, but my curiosity was far too consuming for that.

"Well, first…how many tomoe do you have in each eye of the Sharingan?" she asked.

I groaned. "Two in my left, three in my right," I lied. "Now, just tell me about the plan, alright?"

Karin laughed at that—a high-pitched, extraordinarily insufferable sound that penetrated my poor ears. "Now, now, no need to be in such a hurry! Do you mind if I ask you a few more questions about your Sharingan? What do you know about the Second state and—"

"Hey, just tell me what you wanted to talk to me about or I'll just leave!" I was really getting fed up with her by this point.

"Very well then, if you're so impatient, then I'll get right to it." Karin yanked her glasses off and looked me square in the eye with those piggish pink irises of hers that seemed simply too absurd to be real. "I am a _chakra sensor _you know. Do you realize what that means? I could track down anyone for you…even Itachi."

That was it. She had me. She'd said the _I-_word, so there was definitely no turning back now.

"You can track Itachi? Anywhere, at any place?" I spoke without thinking, all sorts of fantasy possibilities of reuniting with Itachi running through my head.

"Yes, that's right. We could go out and start searching for him tomorrow if you'd like." My eyes widened at that; I hadn't expected such a sudden offer, and in an instant all that she was saying came crashing down on me, and I discovered just how golden this opportunity was. I might _never _get a chance to meet up with Itachi like this again… "But you said it yourself; you wanted to prove to him that you were something, right? Not some weak little girl? And you honestly think you'll get that kind of training if you stay here? I can take you to places where you could learn more advanced skills—unbeatable jutsu unmatched by even the Mangekyo. You'll see."

A chance to find Itachi-sama _and _power beyond the Sharingan's next level—did she even realize all the wonderful opportunities she was promising? I bit my lip, mulling it over. It all sounded like a perfected fairytale sort of fantasy…and I knew all too well that those never really seemed to turn out the way you planned.

"What's the catch?" I spat, more cautious than ever.

"Catch?" Karin wiped her glasses with a quick brush of her nails across the squared frames and placed them steadily across the bridge of her nose. "No catch. My sensei's merely intrigued by your clan's bloodline limit, and he just wants to study how someone without complete Uchiha blood lived with a natural Sharingan, that's all. You're quite an interesting case, you know."

There it was again, the Sharingan. _Why was it that it seemed Karin always kept coming back to that?_ I thought, brow creased as I considered ways that my nonexistent kekki genki could possibly fit into all of this. _"You're Uchiha as well? My, then you must have the Sharingan, right?" "… Uchiha certainly have one of the most renowned bloodline limits…" "Tell me, what's it like to be only half Uchiha and have a natural bloodline? Is it harder to control…?" "I've always found the Sharingan quite fascinating, you know—my sensei especially is passionate about his studies in that field…he could probably learn a thing or two more if he were to examine you, I bet—you're quite an interesting case after all…" "So, how many tomoe do you have in each eye of the Sharingan?" "Do you mind if I ask you just a few more questions about your Sharingan? What do you know about the second state…"_

But Karin, the Sharingan, and this sudden offer, how she was trying to befriend me and gain my trust out of nowhere after the whole blowup over the perfume incident…none of it was making any sense to me…

"And, of course, I've heard that your team was here to deliver a scroll on differing jutsu from the Hokage."

That wasn't right. She shouldn't know that.

"From what source?"

"Does my source matter? I happen to know that you _do _for a _fact _have this scroll in your possession. I'm sure if you were to bring it to my sensei then he'd be all the more eager to teach you," Karin replied calmly. "And besides, imagine what all the jutsu gathered on that scroll could teach you!"

"How would you even know what's _on_ the scroll?" I whispered. "Who in the hell are you?"

She smiled sweetly, which was rather sickening to look at. "Why, I'm Karin of the Hidden Grass, of course. And it's either Itachi or this stupid mission of yours, so you have to ask yourself—what's more important? And if the answer is Itachi, meet me at dusk tomorrow, outside the forest that leads back to the Hidden Leaf, and I'll take you to him."

I nodded, then turned and walked away, sickened with a knot tying in my stomach. Of course, Itachi was more important to me, but I didn't exactly have the heart to say that at the moment.

* * *

I discussed the whole matter with my team back at the boys' room at the inn over and over again, and we'd decided that she was most definitely some sort of traitor to the Hidden Grass, but we still had no clue what her motives were yet.

"So…should we, I don't know…go to the police or something?" Raiden asked.

"Like they'd listen to us accusing a little girl without any proof," I scoffed.

"Besides, we still have no idea why she's so interested in the Sharingan yet," Shiori pointed out.

"Exactly, so we should see if we can learn anything else first," I added.

"I don't know, Hitomi…I mean…if you _do _go and meet her, then we can catch her, perhaps…but still, it will take some planning and we'd have to set out a few traps in the forest and everything…and is she ends up overpowering us, then she takes the scroll."

"Besides, what if you go all traitor and run off to look for Ita—" I bonked Raiden on the head before he could even finish his sentence. "If I _was _a traitor then I wouldn't be telling you all of this right now, _moron_."

"Well, you could still always—"

Just then, there was a knock on the door, and Isao and his sister stepped inside.

"Hey guys!" Isao grinned, "Just visiting! Er…" he looked down at the three of us with Hidden Grass forest maps and jutsu scrolls sprawled out all over the floor. "…are we interrupting some kind of strategy plan or something?"

"Oh! No! Don't be ridiculous why would we ever—"

But Shiori cut me off. "Don't worry about it, Hitomi. Besides, we can use all the help we can get; we don't exactly know if Karin's backed by her team or something, now do we?"

"We'd love to help!" Akane clapped her hands together with a smile.

"Great!" Shiori gestured to one of the forest maps, ignoring how Raiden was pointedly looking away from our visitors. "Now, here's the plan…"

* * *

The next day, I was making my way through the forest when I reached a clearing, and there, standing proudly before me, was that village backstabber Karin. "I just _knew _you would come," she smirked when she saw me. "So, do you have the scroll?"

I reached into my backpack and pulled out the Hokage's scroll. Unraveling the ribbon, I unrolled it and read aloud, "_To my dearest friend of Kusagakure, I give you, as a sign of faith and as a gesture of diplomatic peace, the listings of all jutsus used, in the process of creation, and those still being experimented within Konoha, also called Village Hidden in the Leaves…_"

Karin clapped her hands slowly as I rerolled and wrapped the scroll, a sound that seemed to make the otherwise quiet forest appear suddenly empty and desolate.

"Now, handover the scroll."

Silence. Dead silence.

_This isn't right…_ My head swiveled everywhere all at once. My teammates and the twins should've attacked her by now. Depositing the scroll back into the knapsack on my back I thought,_ What's going on…?_

"Well, come on, we're wasting time!" Karin brandished a kunai. "The scroll first, and then I'll take that kekki genkai of yours."

_What!_

"Oh, come now, Hitomi! I already told you that I'm one of the most ideal, pristinely gifted sensors there are! Naturally, I could tell that your friends were approaching this clearing to be ready to ambush me. So, I planned ahead and sent some of my sensei's other students to take care of them for me."

I wanted to kill her. "What do you mean? Where are they now? What did you do with my friends!"

Karin tsked and shook her head. "Now, now. Don't tell me you expected me to play fair when you were going to try an ambush. My sensei needs that scroll and to be able to transplant a pair of Sharingan into his own eyes, so," her kunai caught the light and gleamed as she started toward me. "Let's see that Sharingan of yours," she whispered sinisterly.

Anger was coursing through me then, completely overtaking me—all that mattered was that I destroyed this girl. My hands flashed through the familiar signs faster than ever before, then, at the top of my lungs, I screeched, "FIREBALL JUTSU!"

* * *

_Earlier on…_

"Heh, I always knew that there was something wrong with that Karin girl... Even you said so, right Akane?"

"Yeah… Too bad Dad always sticks up for her. But this time, we'll be able to help 'take care' of her, without Dad's input. Isn't that right, Isao?"

Akane and her brother crouched lying in wait for Karin and Hitomi to arrive so that they and the rest of Team 11 could ambush the traitorous Grass nin. But just then, two kunai whizzed through the air, with bells tied to the ends. They were hurtled right at Akane, who dove to avoid them easily, having heard them coming because of the bells she'd heard ringing. But still, she and her brother stared on at the kunai that had embedding themselves in a nearby tree in bafflement.

"What the hell?" he muttered.

"I don't get it…why give the enemy a warning that you're going to attack if you're going to remain hidden?" Akane thought aloud, just as puzzled as her twin.

Their question was answered when four more kunai—two with bells attached, and two without—were thrown at Akane once again. She easily avoided the first two, but didn't even notice the second set, because she'd been listening for the bells and didn't hear them that time.

"Look out!" Her brother pushed her out of the way, and she was spared from being hit by the last two kunai as well.

"Who's there?" Isao yelled out, turning this way and that, trying to make out an enemy hiding in the cover of foliage overhead.

Sure enough, two nin dropped down from the tree branches overhead, both wearing Sound nin headbands. One was a kunoichi and the other a shinobi.

"I am Zaku and this is Kin, and we're of the Village Hidden in the Sound, and our mission is to stop you from carrying out your ambush," the shinobi said. "I'll enjoy tearing you two to pieces—there isn't a ninja alive that can defeat me! I have technology so advanced you won't even have to think before you're dead."

"There was no need to say all of that, Zaku." Kin huffed, pulling out her kunai and holding it at the ready. "So, a team battle then?"

Isao's eyes shifted from the kunoichi to the shinobi. He didn't like the look of that overconfident one, and he certainly didn't want to risk his little—er, twin—sister getting into a fight with someone like him. So, he took off back the way he came, calling out to his little sister to take care of the kunoichi. Sure enough, Zaku was soon leaping through the trees after him, and he'd effectively avoided Akane having to combat the Sound shinobi. The kunoichi didn't look like too much trouble, though, and he was confident that his sister could take her.

Of course, Akane knew what her brother was doing, and it certainly irked her that he still felt so overprotective, like she was just a child or his "little sister" or something. Brandishing her kunai, she faced the other kunoichi.

"You're not going to get away with this, and you and your partner are so dead if you don't give up now," she threatened.

Kin merely rolled her eyes. "Heh. If I had 10 ryo for every time I heard that one…"

* * *

Meanwhile, on the opposite edge of the clearing, Hitomi's teammates sat ready to attack as well. Until…

"Wait…I feel something approaching us…" Shiori sat back on her heels, uncertain if her perceptions were correct; this was rather odd for her to sense, after all.

"Who?" Raiden asked.

"No, not who, _what_…it's…vibrations, a lot of them…" Her eyes bugged. "And they're about to head towards us!"

Raiden frowned, not quite understanding. "Wait…_what_?"

"We have to get out of here, _now_."

Before Raiden could argue, she'd jumped into the trees and flickered between branches as she leaped through them as quickly as she could. Soon Raiden was at her shoulder, and he couldn't seem to comprehend anything at the moment. "What do you mean that there are vibrations heading towards us? So what? I mean, that's just _sound_, right? No big deal! Shouldn't we be getting back there to deal with Karin? Why the hell are you just _running away_? What's going on?"

"We need to distance ourselves from whatever's causing those vibrations," Shiori gasped between breaths as she doubled her pace, mind going at a mile a second. How to defeat vibrations? How to fight something when you can't get close to it without being weakened? How to destroy whatever someone's using to control them? _How?_

"If we need to attack from a distance, then don't worry, I know exactly what to do." Raiden stared back they way they came.

Shiori cursed under her breath and went after him. "Come on! You can't fight this, whatever this is, with a regular attack! Trust me!"

But to no avail. Ignoring her, Raiden advanced through the forest a bit further before stopping and, holding his arms out before him, his muscles tensed, he called out into the distance, "Lightning style: Raikou Shi-ku no Jutsu!"

"No!" Shiori cried out. "Raiden, you moron, _don't_!"

But it was too late. Luminescent greenish currents of electricity were already surging through his chakra and winding around his arms. The lightning focused into a sphere in his hands and fired out his palms, zigzagging through the air like a soaring dragon.

But as the lightning disappeared into the darkening forest, there was no cry of dismay, no yelling, and no sign that a person had been hit by it at all. Not even the sound of a tree cracking in half. Just…silence.

"I have a _bad _feeling about this…" Shiori murmured.

And, just then, the vibrations she'd been sensing before suddenly spiked up again, and before she could even move, they were both hit with sudden nausea and vertigo. Raiden grasped his bleeding ears and fell to his knees with a cry of agony, and all of Shiori's extra perceptive senses were overrode just as she was shutting them down. The two became momentarily paralyzed and were left gasping for breath. Out of the cover of the forest emerged a hunchbacked figure with his entire face—save one of his eyes—bandaged and wearing an odd looking shell-like thing on his back covered in straw. But what caught Shiori's eye was the bulky, hole punched metal instrument strapped to one of his arms. His headband identified him as a Sound nin, though Shiori didn't really remember hearing anything about that village.

The Sound shinobi spoke then.

"I am Dosu of the Hidden Sound. I was sent here to make sure neither of you brats get in my charge's way. Don't attack and I won't have to," he said, leveling the metal device on his arm.

"He's with Karin," Raiden managed to choke out, still clutching his ears.

Ignoring the throbbing migraine, Shiori staggered to her feet. "That thing…whatever it is, you can use it to turn anything into a wave of sound, right? Vibrations are all sound is, after all…you focus the vibration into a blaring sound wave that can afflict the eardrums as well as causing vertigo and nausea, am I right?"

"You catch on quick. Am I to take it that means you're also smart enough not to fight me?"

Shiori grimaced. "You have no idea what you're up against."

Raiden stumbled to his feet then, and of all the things in the world, he said, "You wear bandages too."

"…"

"…so?"

"…mine are cooler," Raiden mumbled sulkily.

Shiori and Dosu just stood there and sweatdropped.

Dosu turned to face Shiori then. "Tell you what, I'll do us both a favor and kill him first, how does that sound?"

* * *

**PLEASE DO.**

[Raiden: DDDDD: "HITOMI!"]

[Shiori: "...But did you really have to say that? That was just... SO idiotic..."]

* * *

_Authoressess(?) Comments_

_Heheheh... sorry for uploading so late..._

_As a side note, we've recently become Higurashi fans! :D_

_-Melpomene Black_

_-Lucky the Leprechaun _


	9. Chapter 9

[Hitomi: :O "NO WAY!"]

[Shiori: :D "YES WAY!"]

[Raiden: TT_TT "You get all the attention..."]

[Hitomi: "IT'S ANOTHER HITOMI CHAPTER HECK **YESH**!"]

**Enjoy this, you're bound to love the ending!**

* * *

_Recap: We last left off with everyone facing off against Hidden Sound ninja. Hitomi vs. Karin, Shiori and Raiden vs. Dosu, Isao vs. Zaku, Akane vs. Kin, and Melpomene Black vs. GEOMETR— wait... Ignore that last bit..._

Chapter Nine_  
_

"No use trying to run!" Zaku called out after Isao.

Of course, Isao was used to running away; it was something he'd been doing his whole life. But Zaku had a point; running wasn't going to help him now. Ordinarily he would've kept at it and hoped that the Sound nin was one to easily tire out. But he had to get back to his sister and didn't have time to mess around with some moronically overconfident genin. Time to wrap things up.

Isao halted to in his tracks and spun around to face the other shinobi.

"Don't even bother trying to fight me," here, Zaku took an attack stance and held his arms out. "I have air currents traveling through my arms as we speak, and I can focus and strike with them at will!"

Isao just smirked. "What arms?"

Zaku was about to yell a comeback, when he realized that the sentence made no sense as an insult. In fact, the sentence just plain made no sense at all. All the same, he looked down at his arms anyway. To his dismay, his arms were suddenly throbbing with pain, and, as if they'd been snatched by an invisible hand, they suddenly snapped in opposite directions, and Zaku howled in pain as the joints shattered. But…how was this possible? What sort of jutsu would allow someone to turn invisible and break his arms? What was going on here?

"Pathetic…you talk a good fight but you can't even dispel a basic genjutsu," Isao muttered as he started back the way he came, leaving Zaku to wordlessly fall to the floor as his knees buckled, lying there writhing in unreal agony.

* * *

Akane and Kin were both taijutsu specialists due to their lack of ninjutsu and genjutsu expertise. Even though Akane wasn't the greatest of kunoichi, even she was disappointed in how boring the fight was when an easily defeat Sound nin lay unconscious at her feet.

Akane dusted some debris from her legs and straightened her bow. Just as she was about to return to her position to be there when Karin arrived, a shadow appeared behind her, flickering through the branches, and then Isao landed lightly on his feet before her.

"Was he any trouble?" Akane asked.

"Nope, you?"

"Boring," she said sourly. Then, her eyes widened. "Oh Kami-sama! If we had trouble…what if Raiden-kun did as well? We have to get back into position _now_," and she was off before Isao could say another word.

* * *

"Hey! What's that supposed to mean!" Raiden yelled.

"It means that I'm getting more and more inclined to kill you every second, even though it's technically not necessary that I do so," Dosu muttered, getting even more annoyed by the green-haired shinobi.

Meanwhile, Shiori sat down on the tree branch she stood on and closed her eyes, assuming the half lotus pose. Her extra perceptive senses indicated that Dosu wasn't going to be hostile at the moment, so she had some time to think.

"Hey! This isn't the time to meditate!" Raiden snapped. "We have to figure out a way to fight those stupid sound waves!"

"How can you fight something that you can't even see," Dosu scoffed.

_That's it! Something we can't see…something that's invisible…my Invisible Barrier jutsu! It'll not only block the sound waves, but it'll send them bouncing right back at him! Perfect! _Shiori smiled to herself, but remained seated with her eyes closed, building up more chakra.

"You're no help!" Raiden turned back to face Dosu. "Lightning style: Raikou Shi-ku Jutsu!" he shouted as he worked his way through the hand signs. Greenish lightning illuminated the sky as it shot through the air, aimed straight for Dosu.

Dosu just shook his head. "When will you learn?"

That machine on his arm fired up again, and just as Shiori felt the vibrations about to redirect the attack as sound waves, she whispered, "Invisible Barrier Jutsu."

A moment later, just as predicted, vibrations thundered towards them, but the invisible barrier Shiori's chakra had erected held firm, and redirected the vibrations towards Dosu, which gained momentum and power upon bouncing off the "wall." The sound waves hit Dosu with such sudden, unexpected force and magnitude, that the mechanism that had caused the attack cracked and shattered into pieces. Dosu's eardrums sustained near critical injury, and he was crumbling to his knees clawing at his aching head moments later.

"How…how did you…" Raiden murmured, realizing that his teammate must've planned this out somehow.

"There isn't any time to explain; we have to get back to Hitomi and Karin before it's too late," Shiori reminded him.

* * *

_Present, Back with Hitomi…_

My anger became an all consuming fire as I exhaled through the ring of my right thumb and index finger. Not smoke or embers but real, searing flames were what I blew out. Karin's wide-eyed stare was soon obscured by the sphere of swirling, leaping flames that engulfed the place where she'd stood a moment before. One instant, all of my unbridled rage was pouring out of me in an energy rush, adrenaline flowing through me. _I AM an Uchiha_, I thought, _I may not have the Sharingan, but I AM Uchiha! I bet this was way better than how Sasuke-teme's first Fireball Jutsu turned out anyway! _Then, I felt strangely fatigued, and all the fire was gone, just smoke curling through the early night's breeze. All the power and anger had been released at once, and now, I felt…empty, almost… My knees buckled, and I savored that time to get all my breath back; that jutsu had certainly taken a lot out of me.

Looking up, I saw that a circle of dead grass stood before me, some of the singed plants still plagued by flickering wisps of flame. It was the place where Karin had stood a moment ago, I soon realized. Then, a hard knot formed and convulsed, twisting in my stomach. _Had I…_killed_ her…?_

* * *

_With the rest of Team 11…_

Shiori and Raiden emerged from the trees just as Hitomi's first effective Fireball Jutsu was dying out.

"Hitomi!" They both called out, but as they were running over to her someone tackled Raiden from behind in a hug, sending him hurtling to the ground in the attacker's grasp. "Raiden-kun, you're alright!" Akane exclaimed cheerfully; she was apparently oblivious to the fact that she'd practically just assaulted him.

Isao ran over as well just as Raiden was getting to his feet, Akane hopping up shortly afterwards.

Shiori smiled and called out to her teammate, "Well, now you're an official Uchiha! Even if you don't have the Sharingan! How do you feel?"

"Sleepy…like I need to just collapse and take a nap…" the Uchiha-Yamanaka groaned.

Just then, seemingly out of nowhere, Karin was there, and her fist closed on the scroll in Hitomi's backpack, yanking it free and pushing the Sharingan-less Uchiha to the dirt. In one swift, graceful motion, she tumbled backwards and shot up high in to the sky, landing without falter on one of the numerous tree branches encircling us overhead, her Sound nin partners appearing beside her. She held up her prize smugly for Team 11 with a smirk, gloating in her moment of swelling pride. "I must say, hearing that you don't have the Sharingan is a great disappointment, Hitomi. How dare you lie to me! But all the same, we have the scroll, so our mission is accomplished in the end! And don't you see, you baka Konoha nin? You worthless genin are no match for Orochimaru-sama. And someday, you're all going to pay. He'll grind your pathetic village into the dust and I'll look forward to jailing you for experiments like the little lab rats you are." Here, she glared at me. "And even that precious weasel of yours will fall prey to the great Snake Lord. See you at the Chunin Exams." It was only the spellbound shock that kept Team 11 and their allies from leaping through the trees and pummeling her to the ground. Rooted to the spot by the thought of all their information gone, at how they'd practically walked into Orochimaru's hands, they were helpless to do anything as the teme redhead disappeared into the foliage with the Sound nin in close pursuit.

When they were out of sight and Hitomi's ragged breathing had evened out, she reflected on Karin's so-called grand victory speech, and thought to herself, _Well, that was probably the most overrated and cliché villainous speech of tyranny in existence. _Not that she'd really heard enough villainous speeches of tyranny to really judge, but still. Besides, she'd implied Itachi-sama to be weaker than her leader in that speech. And _no one _insulted Itachi-sama and got away with it.

"I can't believe…they got away with it," Raiden muttered, which pretty much contradicted Hitomi's whole train of thought at the moment.

The Uchiha-Yamanaka lowered her eyes and whispered, "Well…there goes my chance at finding Itachi-sama…"

Raiden sighed. "Sorry, Hitomi. I realize…it was a real big of you and all not to go all traitor and run off and hunt him down…so…I'm sorry you lost your chance…"

Akane and Isao gave sympathetic looks.

Shiori gave the Uchiha-Yamanaka a small squeeze, and sighed. "There'll always be another chance. You know what they say; when there's a will, there's a way. But… as for the scroll…it's gone," Then she dug a kunai deep into a tree trunk with a single hand in frustration. "We lost the Hokage scroll…"

"We lost the scroll…" Hitomi whimpered miserably in agreement, sighing melodramatically in her lament. "And all we have as consolation is the Hokage scroll."

Shiori didn't catch on. "Yes… and all we have as consolation is the Hokage—wait…what did you just say?"

Reaching into her knapsack the Yamanaka produced a plain white scroll tied with a scarlet ribbon to hold up in front of her teammates, though she didn't look at all victorious. In fact, she seemed rather gloomy and downcast at the moment.

Raiden stumbled forward and took hold of the scroll; his hand trembling in anticipation as the others gathered and intently watched him thrash the red ribbon untied and thrust it aside. Unraveling the scroll, he reread its familiar contents, "_To my dearest friend of Kusagakure, I give you, as a sign of faith and as a gesture of diplomatic peace, the listings of all jutsus used, in the process of creation, and those still being experimented within Konoha, also called Village Hidden in the Leaves…_" they all exhaled in relief at being reassured of the scroll's legitimacy.

"But wait…" Akane's brow furrowed with incomprehension. "Then…what was that scroll that Karin took?"

The others were just as baffled at the thought until, a moment later, Shiori's eyes lit up with realization. "Oh, Hitomi…you _didn't_," she couldn't keep the widening grin off her face.

Hitomi sighed miserably once again. "Now I'll _never _own one…"

* * *

Deep in the heart of one of the numerous, almost impossible to navigate labyrinth of a thicket within Kusagakure, an almost sinister air to its surroundings, a certain excitable and highly annoying redhead kunoichi bounded into the hidden doorway veiled within a curtain of vines to the side of a tree trunk thicker than an average sized home. At sensing her chakra signature, part of the bark—which was actually a genjutsu of sorts—slid away and granted her entrance to the spiral staircase that led down the hollowed out trunk, deep below the earth's surface. Karin navigated her way effortlessly, guided by the familiar beacon of power and everlasting life that was the chakra signature of her Orochimaru-sama. It wasn't a long descend until the staircase started to branch off in different directions, and Karin made her way through the various forks until she reached a grand doorway with ornately carved snakes intertwined over the entranceway. Taking in a deep breath, her chest swelled with pride at the thought of the highly successful mission report she'd be able to relay to her sensei. Of course, that last botched mission with the inconveniences of several runaway Curse Mark prisoners and all those escaped Inuzuka pups had made for a pretty messed up situation, but this time, this time, everything had gone perfectly without a single hitch. Confidence surging through her, she thrust the doors open as wide as she could, and, beaming, held out the scroll to Orochimaru, who stood waiting expectantly at the doorway.

"Ah, at last, more jutsu to add to my collection…it's been a while since I've studied what my dear friends in Konoha were up to…now, let's see…"

Karin couldn't help the grin that showed through her businesslike demeanor. "Well, Orochimaru-sama, isn't it everything you'd hoped for?" Karin cooed, hungering for praise like a puppy begging to be noticed by its master.

"…"

"Isn't it, Orochimaru-sama?" When she received no reply, she craned her neck in a vain attempt to glimpse whatever it was that Orochimaru was reading on the scroll.

His eyes twitched, as did his long fingers, he looked even paler than usual, and it seemed as though he were about to have a seizure of sorts.

"…Orochimaru-sama?" Karin repeated uncertainly, seeping concern into her words without her meaning to.

"Karin…this is a certificate of ownership…for a WEASEL!" he lobbed the scroll into the air, and it ended up crashing down on her as a headshot. "And you KNOW how I _feel_ about those _damn _WEASELS!"

"_All around the mulberry bush Orochi chased the weasel_," Dosu sang—who was disoriented and suffering from some mental damage as well as trauma by this point. "_Orochi thought 'twas all in fun—POP goes the weasel!_" he finished merrily.

That's when Orochimaru appeared at his side and roared into his now frail eardrums, "WELL THE WEASEL _SHOULD_ GO POP NOW SHOULDN'T IT?"

* * *

Miles and miles away, his frigid fingertips warmed by the mug he was handed, Itachi Uchiha sipped his tea, the cold enveloping him as he set the cup down again. Not long after he did so, he was seized by two sudden sneezes and a small coughing fit. The waitress cleaning up the stand smiled sympathetically and said, "They say that if you sneeze, it means someone's either thinking, or talking about you!"

"Undoubtedly," Itachi replied dryly in that monotone voice of his.

Perhaps if Dosu hadn't insisted on adding verses to _Pop Goes the Weasel_,the missing S-Rank nin wouldn't have caught a cold that day.

* * *

**AWWW…Itachi-sama's caught a cold…I think I might be starting to get one myself… :( Dosu, it's all your fault! xD **

[Sasuke: HEY! You stole my plot!]

[Hitomi: Did not!]

[Sasuke: Did too!]

[Hitomi: It's my plot!]

[Sasuke: No, it's not, it's MINE! ]

[Orochimaru: Already, I feel like ripping out someone's Sharingan. Which one of you is a part of that plot?]

[Hitomi: (immediately points at Sasuke)]

[Sasuke: -_-" Wow, Hitomi, thanks a lot…]

* * *

_*Authoresses(?) Comments*_

_I know, I'm sorry…I, er, "borrowed" a lot of characters and situations, but I just wanted to get Raiden using an attack and that second-to-last scene in there somehow, so this is how it came about…_

_Hitomi looked up to Itachi when she was little, and he was nice to her when she came to visit the Uchiha compound with her mother, that's all the extent of her "relationship" with him. It's not that she's "in love" or a raging fangirl, just that she looks up to him and wants to show him she can be strong too. And no, she doesn't plan on pulling a "Sasuke-style defecting from Konoha" or an "I want to kill Itachi for revenge" sort of thing; it's not really her style._

_Akane is entirely Mel's idea and so is her appearance and everything. Her personality is actually based on a very close friend of ours. So I can't really take credit for that. However, I enjoyed introducing her in this chapter, because it allowed me to mess with our oc's ^_^ _

_If you like Karin, I apologize. If you like Orochimaru, the Sound nin, ect, I apologize. But I just couldn't miss a chance to mess with them when I remembered that Karin was from this village. _

_Not really sure if Isao and Akane are here just for this one "arc" or if they'll be visiting from time to time. I think we may go with the latter though, just for Ray-chan's sake xD but I'm not sure… What do you guys think? Should they stay? Should Sunshine and Akane be a couple? xD _

_[Raiden: O_O]_

_[Akane: :3]_

_[Hitomi: "HELL NO!"]_

_[Shiori: ^_^"]_

_Er…sorry…this was unnecessarily rather long…just like this chapter ^_^" If you liked it, review. If you liked our new characters, review. If you hate it, review. If you want Akane and Isao to take a hike, revie—[No, Hitomi, you can't]—and if you have any criticism at all, please help me! I'm still kinda new to this! ^_^" _

_Thanks for reading! :)_

_-Lucky _

_Hey guys... we're uploading a LOT on deviantart... wanna see what our characters look like? Even Akane and Isao! C'MON, VIEWS! WE NEED VIEWS!_

_Also, our twitter is steadily being updated with coolio facts, yo! We're also putting reminders for different characters' birthdays in Naruto._

_-Melpomene Black  
_


	10. Chapter 10

**Guys, from here to the end of this first "arc", the chapters will be a bit shorter, alright?**

**We need to get to nineteen chapters before returning to the village for the Chunin exams.**

**By the way, there ARE such things as banks in the ninja world. Those of you in Shippuden, remember Kakuzu? He frequently visits banks, they mention.**

**See if you can spot the Hidan reference! We hate you, Hidan! :D Especially in the the ENGLISH DUB!**

**Also, this will NOT turn into a Death Note crossover… Raiden's just obsessed with the manga...**

* * *

_Recap: Hitomi was exhausted after the fight with Karin. She finally produced her first effective fireball jutsu! Karin managed to steal a scroll from Hitomi, but it was instead a scroll for owning... a weasel? She brings it to Lord Orchimaru, only to be chastised, leading him to be ridiculed by Dosu, leading to Itachi-sama's sudden cold. The next day..._

Chapter Ten

The moonlight was still streaming through the open window of the small room when I woke up. My eyes readjusted to the lighting, and it took me a few seconds before I actually realized where I was.

I slowly got up from the bottom bunk, and looked up at the top one to see Hitomi curled up underneath a blanket, her face hidden in the tightly clutched pillow.

I quickly scanned the room and saw that there wasn't any clock, so I had virtually no idea what the time was. I could tell that it was past midnight by looking outside, but nothing else. I didn't have a watch with me, and I doubted that Hitomi did either. Raiden might have one, but I didn't want to wake up anyone in the middle of the night.

_Well_, I thought to myself. _It's an inn, there should be a clock at the front desk._

_And I REALLY need to lose the habit of getting up extra early._

* * *

The door creaked, and then shut quietly with a muffled _thump_.

Hitomi turned over slightly, rubbing her eyes.

The door opened again, and a white-haired kunoichi quietly walked inside.

Hitomi yawned. "Shiori, what are you doing up this early?"

Shiori's head jerked upwards, and her expression softened. "Oh, you're awake?" she said in a low voice. "I was just wondering what the time was. They have a clock hanging on the wall in the hallway."

"Oh," Hitomi nodded sleepily. "So, what time is it?"

"1:42, maybe 1:43 by now."

Hitomi groaned and sat up in the top bunk. "It took so long for me to fall asleep after what happened yesterday, and now I don't feel like going BACK to sleep."

Shiori gave a sympathetic smile. "Sorry for waking you up."

"Nah, it's fine, it's not you."

"Still thinking about yesterday's events?"

"How could I not? Yeesh, that Karin girl sure is a freak. She and her chakra-sensing creeperness…" Upon looking at Shiori's slightly amused face, she quickly added, "Not that there's anything wrong with chakra-sensing!"

* * *

"Oh, you know what I mean!" Hitomi huffed, as she practically cart-wheeled out of the top bunk. She landed with a loud _thump_ in front of me, and smiled sheepishly. "I should probably stick to not making a lot of noise at this time."

I laughed quietly. "That goes for both of us." Then I looked at her closely in the darkness. "Er… nice pajamas?"

Hitomi looked down. She was wearing… light blue… "feety pajamas"…

Then I spotted a small limp figure on the floor.

"Is that… a stuffed… wease—" I started.

"Don't judge me," she cut me off with a smirk. Then she held her suddenly-growling stomach. "Gah…"

I felt hungry as well at that. "We didn't have a proper dinner yesterday, did we?"

"No, we didn't, unless you count two apples each as a proper dinner."

"I hate apples."

"I'm starting to, ever since Satoru-sensei and _Death Note_."

I agreed with a laugh and thought for a bit. "Maybe there's a bank of some sort nearby… Then we can take out some money from one of our accounts and buy some real food."

"What would be open at a time like this?" Hitomi asked, raising an eyebrow.

"No idea whatsoever… Maybe we should've asked Raiden to go and ask Akane for some food. She would've gladly laid out a banquet for him, huh?" Hitomi looked down with a bitter look on her face. I decided to change the subject, before we had a sudden unexplainable combustion of the inn on our hands. "Nevermind. Anyway, should we go wake up Raiden as well?"

"Leave that baka, we don't need him to walk us anywhere." She sulked.

"You're probably right," I agreed. "He might start to whine and complain for waking him up."

She smiled, and we walked to the door.

"Wait, shouldn't we change first?" she said suddenly.

True, she was wearing comfortable-looking light-blue "feety pajamas" with a simply adorable night cap, and I was wearing a black set of silken night clothes, collared and long-sleeved.

"On second thought," Hitomi started. "You mind going? This isn't exactly the appropriate getup to wear at night, out in the open."

I nodded and went for the door. "Be back in a bit. Don't bore yourself to death!"

Hitomi grinned cheekily and picked up the stuffed weasel. "Don't worry, I have my little Itachi here to keep me company!"

* * *

_Damn._

"Uh… Shiori?"

"Yes?"

"Why are you on the ground?"

"I fell."

"…"

"Just… go back to sleep, Raiden."

"…"

"What?"

"…Are you going to get back up anytime soon?"

It must've just been the effects of that jutsu used by Dosu of the Hidden Sound, but I had just been walking along the hall, maybe about 5 doors from mine and Hitomi's room, when I got a sharp pain in both ears, my eyes unfocused, and I fell flat on my face on the floor. It happened to be in front of the room for Raiden and Satoru-sensei, and Raiden flung the door open a few seconds after.

I slowly got up from the floor. "You can't sleep either?" I asked.

"What makes you say that?" he replied with a raised eyebrow.

"Well, about three seconds after I fell, you opened the door. Meaning you were wide awake to make a mad dash to it."

Raiden raised his hands in mock defeat. "Fine, fine, you got me. I couldn't sleep, no."

"Let me guess, reading _Death Not_—"

Just then, the door to mine and Hitomi's room opened, and she walked out dragging a pillow, stuffed weasel tucked under her arm. She spotted us, and made her way towards us. "Shioriiiiiiiiiii?" she moaned. "What happened?"

I shrugged. "I guess the full effects of yesterday's fight finally got to me."

"What do you mean?" she replied, raising an eyebrow.

"The Sound shinobi who attacked us, Dosu his name was, his jutsu really affected my senses. I'm still suffering from the after effects."

"Yeah, me too." Raiden said, pulling at one of his ears with a grimace. "Every time I get up or make a sudden movement, I—"

Hitomi narrowed her eyes. With as much strength as she could, she lifted the pillow, and slammed it against Raiden with an overwhelming power.

"STOP BUTTING IN, YOU IDIOT!"

The door nearest to us opened and a man stormed out. "WHAT'S THE MATTER WITH YOU THREE? IT'S THE MIDDLE OF THE NIGHT!"

Hitomi rolled her eyes and spoke in an apathetic tone. "It's NOT the middle of the night, it's about 2 o' clock right now." Then she gave the slightest smile, but there was almost a frightening presence in it, one she had adopted from myself.

"Ninja like us get up at about this time every day, sir." I nodded slightly with a similar indifferent tone. "We apologize for any inconveniences. We thought that everyone in this village had the initiative to seize the day." I stared him in the eye with a shocking intensity alike Hitomi's, and a straight face.

He looked back at us both with a face that made it seem as if he was hypnotized.

Raiden postponed his chastisement of Hitomi and followed our example. He spoke with a serious face and air of superiority. "We'll try our best not to disturb you again. Meanwhile, we have to get on with our own duties. Good day."

The man nodded slowly, and turned around, heading back into his own room. He was quietly muttering under his breath. "Those kids are right… At my age, _I_ should be getting up at 2… _I_ should be seizing the day… _I_ should be getting on with my own duties…" He laid his hand on the doorknob and froze. Then he started to yell like a maniac. "I _WILL_ GET UP FROM 2! I _WILL_ SEIZE THE DAY! I _WILL_ GET ON WITH MY OWN DUTIES!"

We heard some muffled shouts from other rooms after the man shut the door. ("WHAT THE HELL IS WRONG WITH YOU?" "WE'RE TRYING TO SLEEP, HERE!" "IF YOU DON'T SHUT UP, I'M GONNA GET MAD!")

The moment everything quieted down, all three of us fell to the ground in laughter.

"I can't believe that guy!" Hitomi gasped between laughs.

Raiden shook his head with a wide grin. "How idiotic can you get?"

"Anyway," I started, trying to catch my breath. I wanted to change the subject before any of us died from suffocation. "Is sensei back yet, Raiden?"

"No, he's not." Raiden replied. "What are we going to do while he's gone?"

"It's not like we can just explore the village until he returns," I added.

"Maybe we SHOULD start looking for this Kenshin Sakamoto guy," Hitomi added with a thoughtful look.

"We should also think of a good place to keep the scroll." Raiden looked to both of us. "We don't want another Karin incident."

"You think Akane would know anything about the Third's friend?"

Both Raiden and Hitomi seemed to be put off by this idea. "Er… Alright, never mind Akane. You guys have any better ideas?"

Hitomi grinned. "Well, for one thing, we should get something to eat."

Raiden raised an eyebrow. "There's not going to be anything open at this time of night."

Hitomi stuck her tongue out at him. "We've already established THAT fact, but there's always a chance that there's some kind of 24-hour shop nearby."

"Do we even have any money?" he asked.

"We already thought of that," I spoke up. "We could just take out some money from one of our bank accounts, if there's a bank nearby."

"Or," Raiden drawled with a mischievous grin. "We could just _borrow_ some money!"

Hitomi's eyes bulged. "No way… you don't mean!"

I wasn't getting it. "What, borrow money from Akane?"

"NO!" My two teammates shouted. I glared at them in return; we didn't want to risk waking up any more psychotic guests.

"Then what do you mean?" I said with a bored sigh.

Raiden shook his head. "It's pretty obvious. It's not like Satoru-sensei ONLY had 150 ryō yesterday. Don't you think he should have had more?"

My eyes widened. "Wait, you want to TAKE his money!"

Raiden nodded proudly, as if he had just come up with the most impressive idea the world had ever seen.

Hitomi slapped him behind the head. "Don't be stupid! As if he'd be dumb enough to leave his money with three genin,"

Raiden glared at her. "He left everything else in here!"

All three of us stopped talking and stared at each other in the silence. Eyes widening, we bolted up and dashed into Raiden's and Satoru-sensei's room, effectively knocking over a lamp, a stool, and a stack of newspapers.

* * *

In a matter of seven minutes and 23 seconds, the three Leaf village genin had completely turned their sensei's room upside down. The navy blue duffel bag belonging to Satoru Hashimoto was emptied out, revealing only a thin black notebook, a portable kunai sharpener, and several apple cores.

The white-haired kunoichi sighed with an annoyed look. "What the hell is this…"

The black-haired kunoichi gave a disgusted look. "What a slob…"

However, the only shinobi in the room, jumped back in alarm and pointed a kunai shakily at the duffel bag. "It's… It's true…" he muttered, eyes wide with terror. "SHIORI, HITOMI, GET OUT OF THE WAY!"

Hitomi Yamanaka stared at the boy. "Whaaa? I think Raiden's finally lost it... Not that he was normal from the start…"

Shiori Kuroshima looked back and forth, from Raiden Nagahara to the duffel bag. "What happened? Is something wrong?"

Raiden was still shaking, but managed to whisper. "It's… It's the notebook… Sensei has the notebook!"

Both kunoichi were silent, but then burst out laughing. "Raiden, you idiot! You're reading too much manga!" Hitomi laughed. "Do you ACTUALLY think that's the Death Note?"

Shiori laughed and reached to pick up the dark notebook, which was lying upside down on the floor. If Raiden saw the front cover, then he would relax. But in alarm, Raiden threw his kunai towards her outstretched hand. Fortunately, Shiori saw the kunai in time to retract her hand, and only grazed her hand slightly. "RAIDEN!" she shouted in shock.

Hitomi picked up the kunai and threateningly waved it at Raiden. "What the HELL is wrong with you! You just ATTACKED your own TEAMMATE!"

But Raiden was unfazed by the accusation.

"DON'T TOUCH IT!" he yelled. "YOU BOTH KNOW WHAT HAPPENS IF YOU TOUCH THE DEATH NOTE!"

* * *

I face-palmed myself. _He's REALLY overdoing it..._ I thought.

Hitomi looked furious. "Now I have to bring out that big old first aid kit! Not that it's a problem, Shiori," she reassured.

I gave a wan smile. "It's not a serious injury at all, just a scratch. Don't waste your supplies," then I turned to Raiden. "And YOU! Be realistic! You always have your head in some manga book, and there isn't really anything wrong with that, but really! As if Satoru-sensei would have a Death Note..."

Hitomi nodded with a scowl. "I have no idea what Akane sees in a paranoid dope like you!"

Raiden turned to hide his reddening face, while muttering a rather... _sincere_ apology. Then he turned back towards us with a thoughtful look, pointing to the wooden vanity in the room. It had several drawers. "You think he would've left money in there?"

Hitomi wrinkled her nose. "You check!"

"Huh?" Raiden replied blankly.

"We're not checking in there!" I exclaimed. "You check!"

Raiden just blinked, shrugged his shoulders, and opened each drawer, one by one. "Nah, there's nothing in any of these. He took all his clothes, so he probably took his money, too."

"Wait, I thought he was scouting in the area?" I asked. "Then why did he take all his stuff?"

Hitomi shrugged. "Maybe he thought we'd take his stuff?"

Raiden grinned. "That's exactly what we were planning to do, he's good!" Then his face melted into a look of mock horror. "Almost as good as Light Yaga—"

Both Hitomi and I grabbed his bandages and pulled. "ENOUGH WITH THE DEATH NOTE REFERENCES!"

And then, we all stared at the thin, dark notebook lying facedown on the floor.

"Uh… I know it isn't really, but shouldn't we at least…?" Hitomi said hesitantly.

I nodded in agreement.

Raiden jumped backwards again, picking up the already-thrown kunai. "I'M NOT DOING IT!"

Hitomi and I rolled our eyes at him, and I motioned to Hitomi to pass the folded towel on one of the beds to me. Carefully, I touched the notebook with the towel and flipped it over.

Raiden gave a sigh of relief and sank to the floor.

"You really DO have problems…" Hitomi laughed.

We were all satisfied with the fact that we had not encountered a killing device, but even more so when we realized that it was a journal of some sort.

"Is it a diary?" I asked aloud, trying to contain my laughter.

Raiden huffed. "Guys don't keep _diaries_!"

"Sasuke keeps a diary…" Hitomi said with a flat tone.

My eyes widened. "Does he really?"

Hitomi nodded, and Raiden snickered. "How do you even know that?"

"You guys know that lake near the Uchiha residence?" she asked.

Both Raiden and I nodded.

"I go there to work on different fire jutsu, and he goes there too, sometimes. Though when he's there, I usually just leave, or start to annoy him. Usually the latter. It's a lot of fun!"

"I can imagine!" I smiled, still holding the journal.

"Well, sometimes Sasuke works on his own fire jutsu, but quite a few times, he just sits on the dock, writing in a leather diary… It's kinda creepy, he gets this far-off look in his eye, and then starts glaring at the book…"

Raiden raised an eyebrow. "Does he write about daily life?"

Hitomi started giggling madly. "No, actually, he writes depressing poetry!" She stood up and took a dramatic pose. "TO WAIT!" she proclaimed. "THAT WAS THE PREDICAMENT! THE TRIAL! THE DILEMMA!" She continued. "NOW TO WAIT! THE AWAKENING HAD YET TO COME!" She made another dramatic pose, which made it seem that she had stabbed herself in the heart. "THE AWAKENING HAD YET TO COME! ONLY THEN, COULD THERE TRULY BE, A PEACEFUL REALITY!"

All three of us were clutching our stomachs, laughing our heads off, and in between gasps, Hitomi managed to hiccup, "I memorized that whole part, only because he did those same movements, shouting at the top of his lungs!"

I got up suddenly, still laughing, and my vision unfocused again, making me dizzy. I fell back down, and the journal I was still clutching opened slightly. A piece of glossy paper fluttered to the ground.

Raiden stopped laughing and jumped back with a kunai for the third time this morning. "SOMETHING CAME OUT OF IT!" he yelled. He was soon again quieted by Hitomi's pillow. However, the force of the feathery projectile caused him to slam into the tall wooden dresser, on top of which was a potted plant. The plant fell next to Raiden, but surprisingly did not break. Then again, the floor WAS carpeted. The dirt simply spilled out onto the carpet, along with something else.

We all sweatdropped.

_He kept his wallet in the plant?_ I thought while facepalming myself.

Hitomi twitched. "We… sure do have…"

"One STRANGE sensei…" Raiden finished.

* * *

**No kidding.**

* * *

_*Authoresses(?) Comments*_

_We're going to have very few and very minor plot changes that will be put into effect BY this Wednesday, the 24th._

_Meaning there will be only a few paragraphs added into probably two of the already published chapters._

_I will post an update in another chapter by Wednesday as a reminder, as well as state the location of these additions._

_Really sorry, but we just came up with an awesome idea..._

_-Melpomene Black_

_P.S. For those of you who don't know because you haven't seen our dA, Lucky's birthday was on the 18th of August! :D SHE'S 15 :DDDDD I made an epic painting of Itachi which you can see if you visit our dA account, link on our Fanfiction profile. She thanks everyone who's messaged her a Happy Birthday! :D_**  
**


	11. Chapter 11

**Hey guys! We survived Irene! :D**

**Here's another Shiori chapter! :D**

**Also, shoutout to hlm9803, who pointed out the irony:**

**IT'S CHAPTER 11 FOR TEAM 11 HECK YESH!**

* * *

_Recap: Satoru is a strange sensei. That's it. ...Also, our genin are starving and are planning to buy some nibbles._

Chapter Eleven

"HELL, HE LOOKS LIKE RYUK!"

_Thud_.

"Sorry…"

Raiden took one look at the photo that had dropped from the journal, and freaked out.

It seemed to be a picture of Satoru-sensei when he was younger, and he had his arm wrapped around the shoulder of a slightly shorter boy, who was proudly showing off a Leaf nin headband. The younger one had dark, dull blue spiky hair, and amber eyes. Sadly, he DID slightly resemble Ryuk.

Hitomi hit Raiden once again, after his outburst. He got up and walked to the other side of the room, muttering to himself. "Light Yagami… Shinigami Ryuk… Satoru-sensei… What the heck is this…"

I ignored him and reached for the leather money pouch.

"How much is in there?" Hitomi asked.

I counted out the bills and separated them by amount. "Wow, he has about 10,000 ryō in here,"

Raiden's eyes widened and he made his way back towards us. "10,000?" His eyes started to get a mischievous twinkle in them, so I took the journal and swatted him on the head with it. "Bad Raiden. We won't take a lot, just a bit, and we'll pay him back when we get back to the village or something if we can't find a good bank here."

Raiden sulked. "Aw, you're no fun. Even if we did take a little, it's not like he'd notice with that much. Who actually keeps track of how much money they carry?"

Hitomi and I looked at each other. "Uh… everyone?" she said with a raised eyebrow.

Hitomi took out a couple of bills from the now organized bunch and handed them to me. "Let's not trust Raiden with the money for today," she said, ignoring his glare. I put the rest of the money back in the wallet, and yes, I replaced the potted plant and left the wallet in the dirt.

"Anything in particular you guys want to eat?" I asked.

They both shrugged.

"Whatever's cheap but good, I guess," Hitomi spoke up. "Are you going too, Ray-chan?"

"Or are you just going to sit in here and read your beloved manga?" I teased.

He rolled his eyes and gave a firm nod. "I shall sit here and read my beloved manga."

Hitomi raised an eyebrow. "Wow, you didn't snap back as usual. Does that mean you're warming up to us, Sunshine?" she grinned mischievously and yanked hard on his bandages.

I quickly flung open the door and slipped outside just in time to miss the barely distinguishable wail of horror that emitted from Raiden's mouth.

* * *

We had spent a lot of time fooling around, so it was almost 3 o' clock. I walked to the main desk at the inn, where a young man was drowsily reading a novel, probably working the night shift.

"Excuse me?" I asked, raising my voice slightly.

His head jerked up suddenly. "Huh? Oh... sorry, what do you need?" he said with a yawn.

"Would there be any convenience stores open at this time?"

"…"

"Uh… hello?"

He had fallen asleep midsentence. "Huh? Oh… oh, sorry, again… What was it you needed?"

"I was wondering if there were any convenience stores nearby? Any that would be open this early?"

The man lazily put down the novel, and pulled out one of the several Kusagakure maps from the pile next to him on the desk. Then he took out a pen and drew circles around the location of the inn, and another building. He pointed to the other building. "Yeah, there's a 24-hour shop here. What exactly do you need? This inn delivers groceries if you need them."

I shook my head. "No, just for food. My cohorts and I didn't get a proper dinner last night."

He nodded, ignoring my choice of words, and handed me the map. As soon as I turned around and headed towards the exit, he picked up the book and hid face behind it. Then he peeked over it and looked back at me. "By the way, I hope you found that guy you were searching for earlier?"

I shook my head and smiled. "No, not yet."

It wasn't until I was a good 20 metres away from the inn that I realized what he had asked.

_Wait, what?_

* * *

It was probably a bad idea at the time, but I felt too lazy to turn back. I wasn't too far away from the 24-hour store the inn worker had pointed out. Though the fact that the worker knew that we were looking for someone was unsettling, I dismissed my suspicions, thinking that maybe one of my teammates, or even sensei had gone around asking for the "mysterious" Kenshin Sakamoto.

I neared the 24-hour shop.

The _tacky_ 24-hour shop.

It was painted in bright orange, and had bright neon yellow lights. _Why does this remind me of Naruto…_ I sweatdropped. As I entered, I was greeted by more unfitting colors. It was filled with numerous potted plants all sporting pink flowers, and the walls were bright blue and green.

Thank Kami-sama my kekkei-genkai wasn't activated.

This place would be HELL.

A young girl with wide eyes, red with strain almost galloped up to me from the front counter. She wore a dark apron and had short mousy brown hair, and she spoke very quickly. "Ah, hello again! How are you?" Judging by her voice, she must have been just a couple years younger than me.

I blinked. "Again?"

She nodded and kept staring at me without blinking, not breaking eye contact. "Yes, yes, you were here quite some time ago, I remember,"

I didn't say anything and just slid away. _Maybe her eyesight's bad… poor girl, so young!_

I moved towards the food section of the store. There were several items, some of which did not look edible in the slightest bit. After hastily scanning the things there, I picked up a pack of six instant ramen cups, and a sealed bag of dried fruit, all good quality, mind you. I quickly paid for the food, leaving me with just a little over 300 ryō of sensei's money. I went towards the door and exited, muttering a quick thank you to the girl.

I began to walk back to the inn. About five minutes after I had left the 24-hour shop, I heard loud footsteps a way behind me. The girl had followed me, and was running as quickly as she could towards me. She called out, but I couldn't make out what she was saying.

It was then that I decided that I would always bear a grudge against all Sound nin, even though I had never heard of them before yesterday.

I turned towards the running figure that was gradually getting closer, cupping my hand to my ear. "Eh?"

She kept running, and when she reached me, she bent over, gasping. Then she straightened herself, blinked several times and gave a sigh of relief while rubbing her eyes. "It feels so good to get out of there," she muttered. Then she suddenly bowed down her head and stuck out both of her hands, clutching a flimsy piece of paper. "You forgot this!" she panted. It was the map of Kusagakure that the inn worker had given me.

* * *

My heart broke as I realized that for the past 10 minutes, this girl of maybe 8 years had been running around the Hidden Grass Village looking for me, and I had just been wandering around, taking my own sweet time with detours as I took in the sights at 3 in the morning. And all this just to hand me back a map, which I had virtually no need of with my good memory.

I gave her a wide smile, thanked her, and patted her on the head for good measure.

"You don't live here, do you?" she asked, following me as I kept walking.

I shook my head. "No, I'm from Konohagakure, the Village Hidden in the Leaves,"

A look of understanding came over her face. "Oh, I remember now, you told me that last time."

I stopped suddenly. "What do you mean, last time? You don't know me, do you?" I was completely and utterly confused.

Before she could answer, a male voice rang out. "HEY, HOW ARE YOU?"

I turned around to face the person who was now striding up to us from the opposing pathway, and grimaced. "Of course, the village prankster…" Isao was parting from a group of other boys his age. But what they were doing creeping about the town at this time of night, I didn't want to know.

Isao frowned and followed behind us. "I'd prefer the term _farceur_, better. Or even… _mounteback_, for that matter!"

I sighed. "No matter what advanced vocabulary you use, you'll still be a _deceitful_ and _fraudulent_ little _kleptomaniac_."

Isao shrugged. "Can't argue with that. Oh, and _little_? I'm WAY taller, AND older than you!"

"Not the point." Then I motioned to my companion. "You could take lessons from her! She actually ran around the whole village looking for me, just to return this map!" Then I turned to her. "Er… sorry, but what's your name?"

Isao rolled his eyes. "And you're telling me to take lessons from an unnamed little child?"

I ignored him and smiled at the girl. She looked down and turned red. "Well… actually… I'm not really supposed to talk to strangers…"

"…"

"…"

I smiled reassuringly, nonetheless. "Oh, it's fine, I understand."

But then she tugged at my arm. "But I can tell YOU my name, my parents already know you!"

There it was again. _Why is she talking as if she's met me before? I remember every face, if not the name…_

Isao exhaled noisily and put up his hands. "I get it, I get it, I'm not wanted here, whatever." He slowly walked away, and the girl relaxed her grip on my arm.

"My name's Aya!" she grinned. "My parents are obsessed with colors, but you already knew that, huh? Where are you going?"

I decided to ignore her comments about me knowing her parents. "I'm staying at an inn nearby, see?" I pointed to the inn on the map.

She nodded. "I know that place, it's right around the corner from here!" She ran ahead towards the bend and turned, slipping out of view. I sped up a bit, not wanting to lose her on the way.

Isao caught up again. "Why are you up so early? And why are you still wearing pajamas? And why is that kid following you?"

"Too many questions! Hitomi and Raiden and I didn't get to eat much last night, you know, after the Karin incident?"

Isao nodded.

"So I volunteered to get some food, that's all. Apparently, she works at the 24-hour store, or at least her parents do. I'm pretty sure she's a bit too young to be working."

As we rounded the corner, I caught a glimpse of Aya disappearing into the inn. When I entered, with Isao following close behind, I spotted Raiden and Hitomi, still in their night clothes, waiting near the front desk.

The inn worker was still sleeping, and my two teammates were balancing pens, books, and extra maps on his head.

Aya was standing still, staring at them in silence, knowing that if she made any sudden movement or noise, she would startle them.

Isao was not so smart, however. "HEY, YOU TWO!" he yelled with a beaming smile.

Hitomi flinched, and Raiden recoiled. It wasn't clear who did it, but somebody knocked over one of the books, which fell to the floor with a thud. They both jumped back in alarm as the inn worker stirred.

The rest of the stacked items fell, and we all cringed at each thud. Surprisingly, the inn worker didn't seem to notice from his drowsiness. He lazily picked up all the fallen items and neatly arranged them on the desk, before actually noticing us all. "Oh… anything you guys need?"

We all shook our heads.

He nodded, yawned, and hid his face behind his novel.

"Nice going, Isao," Hitomi whispered with a glare.

He smiled sheepishly in return. "So, all you guys are already up?"

"Apparently…" Raiden replied. "Shiori, did you…?" He then looked at the bag I was clutching and let out a sigh of relief.

Then the others noticed the tiny visitor we had.

Hitomi craned her neck and looked at her sideways. "Hello, who's this?" she said with a friendly smile.

I turned to Aya. "This is one of my good friends and teammate. Would you mind if I told her your name?"

Aya nodded, but then spoke with a grin. "It's okay, she looks trustworthy. My name is Aya!"

Isao moped. "What, and I look untrustworthy?"

We all stared at him.

"Right… nevermind… Don't answer that..."

"Anyway," Hitomi started. "I'm starving! C'mon, Shiori, let's get back to the rooms!"

Both Aya and the inn worker, who had just now removed the book covering his face, sported puzzled expressions.

"Didn't you say your name was Shira?" They both asked at the same time, then stared at each other.

Both Hitomi's and my eyes widened in disbelief.

She slowly turned towards me, and I knew that she was aware of exactly what I was thinking.

"SHIRA?" we exclaimed simultaneously.

* * *

**DDDDD: SHIRA?**

**Wait, what?**

* * *

_*Authoresses(?) Comments*_

_The last few chapters revolved around solely Hitomi, and you readers got to know more about Hitomi's feelings and family._

_Now it's time to learn more about Shiori!_

_But these aren't fillers. Pay close attention, because several factors are pertaining to the plot of this arc._

_-Melpomene Black_


	12. Chapter 12

**So it turns out that "-sama" can refer to one's customer, as WELL as one's superior.**

**[random telemarketer: "Good evening, Tsunade-sama! Would you be interested in—]**

**[Lady Tsunade: "KONO YARO! I DON'T NEED TO BUY ANYMORE OF YOUR DAMN BEAUTY SUPPLIES, I'M DOING FINE ON MY OWN!" (slams phone)]**

***** "Kono Yaro!" meaning "You Bastard!" *****

* * *

_Recap: SHIRA? WTH? No seriously, what the hell? Why the shouting?_

Chapter Twelve

Raiden and Isao flinched.

"Hey, what's with the sudden shouting?" Isao asked with a perplexed look on his face. "You two are scary!"

"And paranoid!" Raiden chastised. "So what? They just got your name wro—"

"BAKA!" Hitomi yelled, slapping him on the back of his head.

"WHAT THE HELL WAS THAT FO—"

"_SHIRA_ IS HER _MOTHER_, YOU JACKASS!" Hitomi shrieked.

The inn worker shrunk back in his seat, and hid behind his novel again. "Shira or not, all of you please try to refrain from shouting," he said quietly. "It's still pretty early."

"WATCH IT, HITOMI! THERE'S A KID IN HERE!" Raiden hollered, ignoring the inn worker. Shiori was covering Aya's ears, launching into action the moment she realized Hitomi would insult Raiden. Isao just watched them all with a grin, enjoying the show.

Aya broke away from Shiori's grasp, and turned around to face her with a troubled look. "Shira-sama… is your mother?"

Shiori nodded with a weak smile. _Now she gets it_… she thought.

Aya's eyes widened. "I'M SORRY!" she yelled. "Now I understand why you were so confused!"

"No, no, it's fine," Shiori waved it off. "So… do you know if she's still in the village?"

Aya shook her head in reply.

"By the way, how old are you?" Hitomi questioned. Aya looked extremely young, with such a delicate, childish face. "It's pretty early for you to be up, isn't it?"

"I'm always up, and I'm… eight years old!" Aya beamed after a moment of hesitation.

"And you're already working in a 24-hour shop?" Shiori cried out in surprise. Then she turned to her teammates and Isao, holding up the grocery bag containing instant ramen and dried fruit. "She was the only one there, and I bought these from her!"

"I wasn't the only one there!" Aya said defiantly. "My parents were there, too, in the back! I told them before I went looking for you!"

Shiori sweatdropped and hung her head. "I still feel bad that I made an eight-year old run around the village to return a map."

Aya gave a sympathetic look and reached up to pat Shiori on her lowered head, causing Hitomi to clasp her hands together with twinkling eyes, and squeal, "KAWAII!"

The inn worker grumbled. "You guys mind clearing out? We're having inspection soon."

* * *

We ended up making Aya and Isao to eat with us in Raiden and sensei's room. Obviously, we didn't worry for Isao, but apparently, the village was quite safe for a child of eight to be running around without adult supervision. Or at least, that's what Aya told us. She was more trustworthy than Isao the Cunning.

For those who aren't aware, instant ramen comes in a plastic cup. Most types of instant ramen require only some boiling hot water, and 2-3 minutes to cook. We were good on water, since the inn supplied it in the room by tap and bottle. But the boiling part was the problem. It's not as if there was a kitchen in this small inn room.

Hitomi, on the other hand, was one step ahead of the rest of us.

She grabbed 3 of the water bottles, flung open the window of the room, turned back to give me a wink, and leaped out.

"WHAT THE HELL IS SHE THINKING?" Raiden yelled, and all of us scrambled up and ran towards the window. This was definitely not expected.

Isao leaned out of the window, and looked around. Then he carefully stepped out onto the ledge outside. "Hey, she's gone!"

Aya climbed out as well and pointed. "Look! Over there!" There was a warm glow of scarlet in one of the visible alleyways nearby.

"She perfected her Fireball Jutsu, you know," I said aloud, after asking Aya to come back inside. Isao took her by the hand and led her back through the window.

Isao and Raiden both nodded, while Aya let out a gasp. "She can do the Fireball Jutsu?"

"Yeah, her mother's an Uchiha from the Hidden Leaf," I replied. "And her father's a Yamanaka from the Leaf as well."

Raiden snickered. "In other words, she's a hybrid from where we com— GAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHH!" Hitomi suddenly leapt back into the room through the window, landing a flying kick into Raiden's stomach.

"BAKA! THAT'LL TEACH YOU TO TALK BEHIND OTHER PEOPLE'S BACKS!" Then, with a furious look, she threw one of the burning hot water bottles into his hands for good measure.

It took Raiden a full five seconds to realize that his hands were starting to turn red, staring dumbly at them. "It's… hot… It's hot! IT'S HOOOOOOTTTTTT!"

Isao started laughing at him, and aimed a spinning kick at his limp, outstretched hand.

Aya yelped and ducked, as the bottle flew through the air, and towards me. I caught it in one hand.

Isao grinned. "LIKE A NINJA!"

"…"

"…"

"…"

"…"

"What'd I say?"

We all ignored him.

I went back to staring at the bottle in amazement. "Say, Hitomi? How'd you manage to boil the water without burning the label, or the bottle itself?"

Hitomi winked with a grin while Raiden rubbed his hands and glared at her. "How come you guys aren't getting burned?" Then he groaned. "Don't tell me… I'm in a genjutsu?" He made a quick hand sign, and muttered, "Release."

We all stood there, staring at him.

"Do you feel any different?" Isao asked hesitantly.

"No…" Raiden sulked.

"Well, there's your answer, then!" Hitomi huffed.

"What a waste of chakra…" I muttered. Then Hitomi left, heading to our own room to retrieve some ointment from her first-aid kit for Raiden's burns.

Then I explained. "Hitomi's an Uchiha, so she can pretty much handle scorching hot things better than most others. And my kekkei genkai kicks in automatically now for things like temperature."

"Of course…" Raiden muttered.

"Hey, didn't you say you had a Lightning Release Chakra Nature?" Isao asked Raiden, as Hitomi returned and blindly tossed the ointment across the room, where Aya caught it.

Raiden plopped down on the floor next to Aya, who immediately began to apply the ointment on his hands, to his surprise. "Oh… Uh, thanks." Then he turned to Isao. "Yeah, I did. What of it?"

"Shouldn't you have even more resistance? You know, lightning's hotter than fire? I have an Earth Release Chakra Nature, so I'm bad against Lighting."

Raiden mumbled to himself incoherently in return, tensing up as the ointment stung his scorched hands. Aya giggled. "I didn't know it was possible to burn yourself this way."

"Are you sure you're not just over-reacting, Ray-chan?" Hitomi teased. Then she began to speak in a high voice. "Maybe we're in a genjutsu!"

Raiden retracted his red hands from Aya's and thrust them in our faces. "DOES THIS LOOK LIKE A GENJUTSU?"

Hitomi, Isao and I all made mock-hand signs for a Genjutsu Release, and then keeled over laughing. Raiden abandoned his glare and chuckled as well, leaving Aya to give a hesitant giggle to avoid looking awkward.

We finally got to preparing the ramen, and we all happily inhaled the noodles and chomped on dried fruit. Raiden was very pleased at this. "Hey, you remembered!"

"Remembered what?" I replied with a blank face, trying to tease him.

"My favori— wait, so you DIDN'T buy the dried fruit for me?"

"Er… no? It's for everyone…"

"No, I mean… nevermind…"

"Oh, I remember!" Hitomi exclaimed. "You said your favorite food is dried fruit back when sensei wanted us to get to know each other, right?"

Raiden's face lit up. "Yeah!"

"Oh, then have another, then!" Hitomi took two pieces of dried apricot and threw them towards Raiden, where they landed on his bandaged head.

"…Excuse me while I go scrub my bandages…"

* * *

"By the way, Aya," Hitomi said at one point with a sweet smile. She seemed to have taken a particular liking to the angelic little girl. "We're actually here on a mission, searching for someone."

"His name's Kenshin Sakamoto," Raiden added. "Know anyone like that?"

"Apparently, he's a good friend of our own Hokage," Hitomi continued.

Aya got a thoughtful look on her face. "Kenshin… Sakamoto…" she continued thinking, and made a show of stroking her chin. "Well… I think we have a Ken'ichi Saito… but I don't know anyone named Kenshin Sakamoto."

"Thank you for your help anyway, Aya," Hitomi smiled.

"But then again, I don't exactly know everyone in this village!"

At this point, I was basically spacing out, staring out the window with a ramen noodle half sticking out of my mouth. The others continued speaking, and I was only subconsciously listening to their conversations consisting mainly of how to get around Kusagakure and different people in it, and especially on the subject of Kenshin Sakamoto.

It was then I realized that one member of our little congregation was remaining particularly silent.

I was jolted out of my trance at that exact moment by Hitomi. "Whatcha thinking about, Shiori?"

I turned towards her. "If fact, I was just wondering why Isao was remaining so quiet this whole time." Then I faced him. "Are you alright? Or do you know something that we should know?"

Isao replied with a confused tone and expression. "What?

"Are you hiding something?" I said, looking at him with emotionless eyes.

"Now that you mention it, Isao hasn't given any valid input whenever we bring this subject up…" Raiden thought aloud.

"And neither has Akane…" Hitomi continued.

Isao folded his arms behind his head and leaned back. "Geez, you guys are a really untrusting bunch, aren't you?"

"Obviously, we have reason to believe you're lying, or at least hiding something," I said, and then gave a sideways glance towards my teammates. They both gave slight nods, signaling that they had both reached the same conclusion for our next course of action. Isao didn't notice our motions, since he was still leaning backwards and staring at the ceiling.

Aya stared at as all, and somehow understood what was going on. She nonchalantly stood up and sat behind Team 11. The oblivious Isao did not notice any of this.

"NOW!" I yelled.

Raiden threw himself forward and knocked Isao to the ground, who was now sporting a surprised expression. I lunged forward as well, and locked Isao's arm behind his back. Both Raiden and I took out kunai and held them at either side of Isao's throat. Hitomi stayed where she was, and prepared to make the hand signs for a Mind Transfer Jutsu, standing at the ready and aiming at Isao.

(As a side note, we managed all of this without spilling any of our ramen.)

"WHA— HEY! LET GO! WHAT DO YOU THINK YOU'RE DOING?" Isao yelled. "UNHAND ME! I'M WAY OLDER THAN ALL OF YOU!"

"You can choose to spill the beans," Hitomi started. "Or you can allow me to use my own jutsu to get the information from you."

"And don't bother lying," I added, making my grip on his arm tighter. "I can easily tell the difference after hearing you lie once."

Isao grit his teeth. "I don't know what you're talking about."

"LIAR." Raiden said in a loud yet flat tone, elbowing Isao in the ribs.

Isao coughed. "WATCH IT!" Then he continued to glare at us. "Is this how you treat your gracious host of the village?"

Hitomi scoffed. "Gracious, my—" then she turned and glanced at Aya, who was wide-eyed at this point. "My foot!"

I breathed a sigh of relief.

"Last chance, Isao," Raiden smirked. "You know something about Kenshin Sakamoto, don't you? Or should I go and ask Akane?"

Hitomi muttered something under her breath, which sounded like, "Yeah, maybe she can actually be useful."

"HEY! THAT'S MY LITTLE SISTER YOU'RE TALKING ABOUT!" Isao yelled. Then his voice got quiet, almost as if he was talking to himself. "She's not really that easily-manipulated, is she?"

"We don't have all day, Isao," I sighed. "Be a good little boy, and tell us what we want."

"Okay, once again, I'M WAY OLDER THAN YOU GUYS!"

"THAT'S IT!" Hitomi yelled. She went through a couple of hand signs, and said, "_Mind Transfer Jutsu_!"

Hitomi's body went limp, but thankfully, Aya was quick enough to pull one of her yielding arms backward, so that she wouldn't hit the ground.

I made a mental note to thank her for being extremely cooperative and helpful, as well as congratulating her for her intellect.

Isao's head bowed down, and the room was silent for several moments.

"Is it working?" Raiden whispered.

"I... think so…" I replied uncertainly.

It was our unfortunate mistake to loosen our hold on the Rock ninja in the Hidden Grass.

* * *

The moment Shiori Kuroshima loosened her grip on Isao's arm, and both Raiden Nagahara and herself slightly relaxed their kunai-holding hands, Isao's entire body jolted, his head shooting back up.

Hitomi Yamanaka seemed to have returned to her body, and she seemed to almost fly backwards from some force, taking young Aya with her.

"What the—" Raiden managed to say.

Isao gave a furious look, wrenched himself out of Raiden and Shiori's now-weak grips, and made a hand sign. One second later, he was gone.

"Damn it!" Shiori groaned, stabbing the floor with her kunai. "He used the _Body-Flicker Technique_…"

"Well?" Raiden said apprehensively, looking towards Hitomi. "Did you find out anything?"

Hitomi was apologizing to Aya, and turned to her teammates with a consternated expression. "He actually… forced me out of his mind!" Then she thought. "It was… really unclear… but I managed to figure out a few things before he pushed me out."

Hitomi's teammates looked at her expectantly.

"Apparently, there's some kind of… underground organization or whatever that deals with jutsu…" Then Hitomi groaned. "Again, it was REALLY unclear, everything was so fast. I think it for jutsu development, and obviously, this Kenshin Sakamoto guy has to do with that. I'm pretty sure that he's in league with this organization."

"Then it's settled," Shiori said. "We need to find out more about this organization, and that'll help us in contacting Kenshin Sakamoto."

"Yeah," Raiden agreed. "Too bad we can't get any help from Isao. I don't think we'll be seeing him a lot from now on." His teammates nodded at this. "But, it's not like we're the enemy, so why would he feel that threatened?"

"…Maybe because we threatened him?" Hitomi said dully.

"…Besides the point…" Raiden replied with a grimace.

"I see what you mean, Raiden," Shiori interrupted. "Our mission is to just to deliver the jutsu scroll to—"

"NOT IN FRONT OF HER!" Raiden yelled, covering Shiori's mouth and pointing to the quiet Grass Village girl.

Shiori removed Raiden's hand, slapped it for good measure, and sighed. "Yes, because we can practically SEE the evil oozing out of her."

Aya giggled as Hitomi started to mock-cower in fear.

"By the way, Aya," Shiori said with a wan smile. "Sorry you had to see all of that…"

Aya smiled. "No, it's fine, really!" But judging by her tone, and the fact that she was slightly shaking, it was obvious that it was NOT fine. "Truthfully, you all attacking that boy, Isao, reminded me of Shira-sama and the others she was with… they attacked several customers, because they thought they were acting strangely suspicious... Shira-sama seemed to like to stand on tables and point dramatically into the distance…"

Shiori sweatdropped. "Sounds like something she would do…"

"You know, Shiori," Hitomi added. "Why not try to see if your mother's still in the village? We can multi-task, look for the underground organization, for Kenshin Sakamoto, and for Shira Kuroshima/Kamizuki!" She even spoke the "slash" aloud.

Raiden groaned and bowed his head towards the ground. "Sounds great. Piece of cake."

* * *

**Mmmm... CAAAAAAKE...**

**Also, IT GOT INTENSE.**

**ISAO YOU DOLL.  
**

* * *

_*Authoresses'(?) Comments***  
**_

_Hey, guys! Week late update, I know..._

_But if you've been keeping up on our Twitter and our deviantart, you'd know that Fanfiction was spazzing last week and wouldn't show the chapter._

_I decided to wait for the problem to pass, but it didn't. So I took the time to look over the chapter to see if there was a possibility of coding errors or some nonsense..._

_And then I realized that a whole chunk of the chapter was missing! It must've happened when I was dissecting the chapters, and that piece got lost somewhere. But I retyped it here, so it's all good ^^_

_So it turns out that Fanfiction "saved" us! :D_

_And if you'd like to see what SHIRA looks like, [standing on a table, i might add], check out our DeviantART page, link on our profile! :D_

_Also, we posted a poll on our profile page questioning Akane and Isao's moralities, whether they're good or evil. Check it~! We'd appreciate it if you input your vote!_

_By no circumstances will the result bias our decision of the direction of this arc. We already have this arc planned._

_-Melpomene Black_

_-Lucky the Leprechaun_

* * *

**[OMAKE] COMMENT~! Who do YOU think is the evil mastermind behind this plot?**

**We're only 7 chapters away from the end of this arc! What are your thoughts?**

**Notes from the Characters:**

Hitomi: "Dudes... it's totally Akane..."

Akane: "Me? What about you! You guys are pretty suspicious!"

Raiden: "I'M INNOCENT, I SWEAR!"

Akane: "Oh, I believe that 100%, Raiden-kun!"

Raiden: [shudders]

Shiori: o.o "...Is anyone else suspecting the guy who just escaped from our grasps? Or am I the only one?"

Akane: "You actually suspect my brother?"

Shiori: -_- "Actually, I don't. He's too stupid to be a criminal mastermind."

Hitomi: "True dat."

Isao: D: "THIS IS INJUSTICE!"

Raiden: O_O "OH HELL. I KNOW WHO IT IS."

Everyone else: "Who?"

Raiden: :OOOO "IT'S DEFINITELY SATORU-SENSEI!"

Satoru: :D [holding Death Note and apple] "And I... will become the GOD of this new world!"

Everyone: O_O

Satoru: -_- "Guys, it's a joke, relax yourselves. And anyway, what about that little girl, Aya?"

Aya: O.O "Eh?"

Hitomi: "Wait... Oh, now it's obvious... Shiori, you thinking the same as I'm thinking?"

Shiori: "Yup."

Both: **"IT'S TOTALLY THE AUTHORESSES'(?)."**

...

Mel/Lucky: "DAMN! THEY GOT US!"

[run like heck]

**But seriously, who do you guys think it is?**


	13. Chapter 13

**WARNING. THIS CHAPTER CONTAINS MINOR ALCOHOL ABUSE.**

[Raiden: O.O "MEL! YOU PROMISED YOU WOULDN'T SAY THAT!"]

**EHEHEHEH. Nah, I'm kidding. It's only mentioned because Raiden has alcohol problems.**

[Raiden: DDDDDDD: "MEL?"]

**Okay, but seriously, it's fine. Just a few references to pubs, taverns, and bars. That's it.**

**I Promise.**

* * *

_Recap: Isao… escaped? Wait, does this mean he's evil? D: OHNOEZ The mission shall finally begin though, time to find Kenshin Sakamoto!_

Chapter 13

After discussing with Aya that it would be better if she returned to her parents at the 24-hour shop, and making sure she agreed, Raiden, Hitomi, and I made plans to go scouting.

"I say we go check out the more shady places around Kusagakure," Raiden started. "They're bound to know more about things like secret underground organizations."

"And exactly what do you mean by 'shady', Ray-chan?" Hitomi asked with a smirk.

"You know, like, pubs and bars and stuff."

"Yeah, one problem there, Raiden," I said, mindpalming myself. "We're not exactly old enough to go into those."

"Well, there's several ways to get around that!" he replied defiantly. "We could use a transformation jutsu to make one of us look older, or even all of us!"

"…It's a wonder you haven't been locked up yet, with all the crazy ideas you come up with…" I said in a sour voice.

Hitomi on the other hand, had a thoughtful look on her face. "It isn't a very ethical idea, but that would definitely be a last-resort."

"Still, let's think of more… 'age-appropriate' ways to go about this…" I mumbled.

Hitomi made a grimace. "Well, there's a slight chance that Isao hasn't warned Akane of us almost detaining him… We could always try to get some info out of her…"

"I highly doubt that," Raiden added, turning slightly red. "He was worrying that Akane would be easily manipulated, right? So he would definitely warn her as his first priority."

"How about a variation of the transformation jutsu idea?" I thought aloud. "Since us being Leaf ninja makes us more suspicious, we could simply hide our headbands, but use a transformation to make ourselves look different."

"Oh, I get it!" Hitomi finished for me. "Then we can go around, asking for our lost uncle or something, who's Kenshin Sakamoto!"

"'Lost uncle' doesn't sound very convincing… we could just be random kids who need his help with something?" Raiden said.

"The something is what matters…" I added.

"But we aren't the bad guys or anything, is there really a need to go sneaking around?" Hitomi asked with a confused look. "We're here to deliver something to the organization, not to overthrow it or something..."

"Maybe you're right," I smiled. "We're just overthinking this."

"Let's just pack some essentials, then," Raiden said, standing up. "A couple of kunai, shuriken and such. We also need to walk Aya back to that 24-hour shop you went to, Shiori."

Aya grinned. "I can go by myself, there's no need to worry!"

Hitomi pretended to act hurt. "Oh… so you don't want us to keep you company? You dislike us THAT much?"

Aya's eyes widened, and an extremely sad look settled on her face. "No, I didn't mean that, I promise! I just didn't want to be a bother to you guys!"

"You're not a bother, Aya, it'll be a pleasure to walk you back!" I said reassuringly.

"Stop teasing little children, Hitomi!" Raiden glared.

"Yeah, well I tease YOU all the time, and nobody stops me from doing THAT!"

It took quite a few moments for Raiden to realize that Hitomi was calling him a little child. "HAH! YOU'RE ONE TO TALK, SHORTY!"

I facepalmed myself, muttered something about Raiden being an idiot, and then proceeded to attempt to cover Aya's eyes and ears.

* * *

We made sure to pack all the necessities, including kunai, shuriken, and a couple of paper bombs just in case.

And yes, I admit it, we took a bit more of sensei's money, JUST IN CASE.

Our first order of business was to return Aya to her parents.

It was about 4:45 AM, and the sky was slowly but surely starting to get brighter. Hitomi, Raiden, and I walked towards the front desk once more, with Aya following along behind us. We wanted to first ask the inn worker if he knew anything about the mysterious underground organization, or even the whereabouts of my spontaneous mother, Shira Kamizuki.

Unfortunately, that inn worker seemed to be in either a heated discussion or argument with a woman. She was fairly tall, and had long dark hair, that had a bluish tint if you looked at it in the right light.

"What do you mean, you can't tell me?" she yelled in the inn worker's slowly reddening face.

"I told you, we're not allowed to give away information like that," he mumbled.

"I HAVE THE RIGHT TO KNOW, YOU CAN'T REFUSE IT!" she spat and shrieked. "GIVE ME THE PAPERS, NOW!"

The inn worker slid black slowly in his seat, almost cowering. "I don't even know where the papers are, I only work the night shift. You can always come back later, then you ca—"

The woman's shadow seemed to loom ominously over the inn worker as she slammed her fists on the desk. "YOU'RE LYING! WHERE'S YOUR EMPLOYER, MANAGER, WHATEVER?"

"I'm afraid I don't know that, either. Again, please come back later, then you'll be able to get more help."

They continued arguing, and Raiden noticed that Aya was slightly shaking with wide eyes, grabbing his arm. He nudged both of us, earning a glare from Hitomi, but then both of us realized as well.

We quickly snuck outside, without getting noticed by either the woman or the inn worker. Then we started on our way to the 24-hour shop.

"You know who that is, Aya?" I asked.

Aya nodded slowly. "She's known as the 'Hated Mistress' of our Kodaichikage."

Raiden snickered. "'Hated Mistress'?"

"There's a rumour going around that she's just blackmailing the Kodaichikage," Aya replied with a disgusted look.

"Wow, you seem to know a lot about the village, Aya!" Hitomi laughed.

Aya grinned cheekily. "I get around."

Later, we learned that it was our good fortune that we were not spotted escaping from the inn by the inn worker, or by the "Hated Mistress".

* * *

We made sure that Aya returned safely to her parents, and we even got to have a few words with them.

Both her mother and father had the same mousy brown hair, and they both also wore the same dark apron with the symbol for the 24-hour shop on it.

After they thanked us for being nice to their daughter and keeping her out of trouble, and also sent her back inside, we officially began our mission.

Raiden attempted to "look cool", and started to stroke his chin while asking his first question.

"Do you know anything about a secret underground organization that possibly works with developing and analyzing new jutsu from other villages?"

"…"

"…"

"TOO BLUNT!" Hitomi and I yelled at the top of our lungs, grabbing Raiden's bandages and pulling hardly.

"OWWWWW! SORRY, GOSH!"

Aya's parents sweatdropped. "A secret… underground organization?"

All three of us nodded in embarrassment.

Aya's father scratched his scalp. "Well, I'm sorry, but I've never heard such a thing. Have you, Akiko?"

"No, but if such a thing DID exist," the mother, Akiko, then added. "I'd suggest checking with more… informational people, with suspicious backgrounds."

Her husband stared at her incredulously. "You're asking these three kids to check out the people at pubs and taverns?"

Akiko's eyes widened. "No, that's not what I meant, Akio! Really, you should know better!"

Raiden exhaled loudly. "I already thought of that, actually."

Akio then turned his eyes towards Hitomi and I. "And you're going along with this?"

We both got serious looks on our faces, put our hands up and crossed them simultaneously, saying, "Hell no."

Hitomi uncrossed her arms. "Do you at least know who Kenshin Sakamoto is? He's the one we need."

"We need to give something to him urgently," I added. "We're here on a mission from the Hidden Leaf."

"Call us the delivery service…" Raiden said dully. "The Hokage's messenger birds…"

_Bad memories_… I thought to myself.

Akiko and Akio both shook their heads in reply. "The name doesn't sound familiar, sorry," Akiko said in her soft voice. "You're from Konoha? We had a group of ANBU and elite jounin from Konoha come by not too long ago, looking for rogue ninja."

"Rogue ninja?" Hitomi asked uncertainly. She was definitely thinking of Itachi, who had left the Hidden Leaf about 5 years ago.

"From what I heard," Akio said with a sly smile. "One of the rogue ninja was one of your own Hokage's sons."

* * *

Immediately, I thought of the jonin who had come to the Academy, in charge of Ino, Chouji, and Shikamaru's team.

_It was… Asuma Sarutobi…_ I thought. _But that team of ANBU and elite jounin left quite a while ago… it must be the other son of Lord Hokage_.

Akiko glared at her husband.

"What?" he replied, confused.

"You sounded so mean and accusing when you said that…"

"…I'm sorry?"

Hitomi glanced at me and asked our last question. "Do you know if that group of ANBU and elite jonin are still here? Shiori's mother is one of them, Shira."

Both adults' eyes bulged. "Oh, that's why you looked so familiar! No, we don't know if they're still here, sorry!"

"It's fine, thanks anyway," I smiled.

Akio sweatdropped. "I feel so useless, we don't know anything…"

Akiko shrugged. "Maybe YOU could go and help them check out some suspicious people?"

Hitomi laughed. "It's fine, I'm pretty sure we'll do fine on our own, without any help from shady people."

Akio seemed to be relieved at that.

"How long ago were the Leaf shinobi here?" Raiden questioned.

"They were here just about 4 or 5 days ago, so there's a slight chance they're still here in the village," Akiko said with a bright smile. Then she turned to me specifically. "Oh, and by the way, I think your dad was here, too. Shira mentioned that one of the ANBU was her... uh… she actually said he was her 'lackey'…"

"Yeah, that's probably him…" I sweatdropped. "Thanks again for all your help, we really appreciate it." _Is there really a chance that both of them are here in the village?_ I thought to myself. _Or will this just be another goose chase, like with Hitomi and Itachi? I haven't seen them in forever…_

Hitomi bowed in respect to the adults. "Please accept our most heartfelt gratitude, O exalted ones."

They chuckled in reply, telling us that we were such charming children.

As we left, Raiden started to tell Hitomi that she was being a freak, earning him another one of Hitomi's trademark glares, as well as a "stop being so immature" from me.

* * *

"What should we do next?" Raiden wondered aloud.

"We're definitely not going along with your 'shady' idea, Raiden," I said with a sigh. _Or any other idea you come up with that's considered illegal…_ I thought.

Hitomi's face lit up. "Oh, I have an idea! It's a bit farfetched, but…"

"Go on," I said.

"It's a secret organization… that's underground… so maybe it has to do with codes and aliases? Maybe Kenshin Sakamoto is just an alias?"

I was a bit confused. "That's possible, but what do you mean by the alias… being a code?"

"You mean…" Raiden started. "Like, the meaning of the name?"

"Yeah," Hitomi nodded. "Again, it's farfetched, but it'll all we have right now, really. Without having to be overly suspicious or deceptive…" she added.

"Only problem is," I said. "We don't exactly know what the name means, do we?"

Raiden launched into a whole lengthy explanation. "_Kenshin_'s supposed to represent 'modesty' and 'truth'… It can also be interpreted as 'modest truth', of course… One of my old friend's last name began with _Saka_, and it means 'hill'… Satoru-sensei's last name ends with _Moto_, and that can either mean 'bottom', or 'true', when the kanji's read in different ways."

Hitomi and I stood still, staring at him.

"…Stalker…" Hitomi muttered under her breath.

Raiden's face turned red. "AM NOT!"

I tried to restrain myself from laughing, but sadly, I failed. "It's what we have for now, let's work with it." I took out the map of Kusagakure and my sketchbook, along with a graphite stick. "C'mon, let's sit down somewhere, it'll be easier."

Raiden pointed to a nearby building, which had a couple of tables and chairs outside. "What about that café?"

"…That's a bar, Raiden."

"…Oh…"

Hitomi swatted him on the head.

* * *

We eventually found a clearing with a couple of wooden benches and tables, and decided to make plans there.

"Okay," I started, handing the graphite stick and the sketchbook to Hitomi. "You're in charge of writing and drawing the plans out, I'll examine the map and start thinking of the places we should cover."

"What do I do?" Raiden asked, noticing that I hadn't mentioned him.

"Just sit there and look pretty," Hitomi said with a straight face, turning to a blank page in the sketchbook.

"…Okay?"

"You can help me out with the map, Raiden," I said. Then I grinned. "Or would it be easier to sit and look pretty?"

"…"

"Map it is then…" I sighed.

"But what if I WANT to sit and look pretty?"

I blinked. "Eh?"

Hitomi stood up dramatically and slammed her fists on the wooden table. "BACK TO WORK, PEOPLE!"

I stood up immediately and mock-saluted her. "YES SIR!"

Raiden stayed quiet and looked the other way.

"I DIDN'T HEAR A 'YES SIR', SOLDIER!" Hitomi yelled with a grin.

Raiden still didn't turn.

"SUNSHINE? DON'T RUIN IT!" she yelled, this time with a pout.

However, Raiden still didn't turn.

"THAT'S IT, PUNISHME—"

"SHUT UP!" Raiden struggled to shout in a whisper. Then he motioned to the edge of the clearing. "I thought I saw and heard something move there."

We all remained silent and looked as well, but nothing happened for several minutes.

Yeah, we have patience, we're ninja.

"You probably imagined it, Ray-chan!" Hitomi laughed.

I closed my eyes and silently activated my kekkei genkai, and listened carefully. I didn't hear anything, but then I decided to use my ability for chakra-sensing.

Unfortunately, I was too late.

There was a blur of red, and none other than Akane appeared directly behind Raiden, and she gently placed her hands on Raiden's shoulders.

"Why, hello, guys!" she said in a sickly-sweet tone.

* * *

**SHE IS A CREEP.**

[Raiden: / "L-Let's not jump to conclusions…"]

**NO. SHE IS MOST DEFINITELY A CREEP.**

[Shiori: "I'm siding with Hitomi on this one. Whether she's good or bad, Akane is still a creep."]

[Akane: :D (dunce cap) "HAI GUYZ WHO WANTS SOME ORANGE JUICE?"]

[Team 11 Genin: e_e (slowly back away)]

* * *

_*Authoresses(?) Comments*_

_Hey, guys! It's us! :D_

_How are you guys?_

_School is stressful… so there might be chapter delays at times… But thank you for understanding in advance._

_As a side note, if you've been following us on Twitter, you'd know that we are going to be posting some of Lucky's famous quotes here at the end of every chapter, the Quote of the Week. Some of her quotes are too big for Twitter's character limit. Thanks for understanding, and enjoy! (They'll be in the form of chat messages, since these are stuff she usually chats)_

_-Melpomene Black_

_-Lucky the Leprechaun _

* * *

**Quote of the Week**

[in some nonexistent plotline, Team 11 is just outside the boundaries of Suna, while half of suna glares menacingly at them from atop their fortresses]

Hitomi: "Not that im complaining, but shouldn't we have been thrown out by now-"

Ray: "SHHHHHH!"

Gaara, siblings, and guards and half of suna, "WE CAN HEAR YOU."

Satoru: "why are you ALWAYS mocking me about light yagami! im not even sure what the hell kinda person he-(raiden opens up a manga to a picture of light yagami) Well...i must say...this light yagami doesnt look half bad..."

rest of team 11: -_-"

Hitomi: "WAIT..." (points to Gaara) "He doesn't sleep...and he controlls sand...O.O HE IS THE SANDMAN!"

"..."

"..."

"..."

Ray: "Yes, Hitomi, Gaara, the guy possessed by a sand controlling demon, and can therefore control sand, must be the sandman, because of the sand."

Hitomi: "Yes!" ^^ "He is most deflnately the sandyman!"

"..."

"..."

Shiori: "Raiden, don't ruin it for her..."

Gaara (mutters) "Who let these idiots into my village anyway..."

**It was us.**

**WE DID IT FOR THE LULZ :D**

**OH THE RANDOMNESS**

* * *

**OK LUCKY HERE! HEY GUYS GUESS WHAT! THIS IS THE FIRST TIME I'VE UPLOADED ONE OF OUR CHAPTERS! ...usually I just write them and Mel does all the publishing work...xD lol, my first chapter upload, and it's not even my own chapter! ^^ Remember to vote on our poll if you want! Comments and questions always welcome! Hope you enjoyed! :D **


	14. Chapter 14

**Creepy Akane is not creepy because she is based on one of our very good friends. ^^**

**But Isao is an idiot.**

[Isao: "HEY!"D:]

[Akane: "Well, it's true!"]

[Hitomi: "ALRIGHT, ALRIGHT, THAT'S ENOUGH, BACK TO THE CHAPTER!"]

[Akane/Isao: "YES MA'AM!"]

[Hitomi: "I like the sound of that…"]

**Er…. right… Back to the chapter?**

**Oh, and as a side note, yes, orange juice can get pretty intense.**

* * *

_Recap: Orange juice. It's intense, yo._

Chapter Fourteen**  
**

Hitomi and I leapt out of our seats, whipping out our kunai at outstanding speeds.

Raiden sat completely still, white-faced.

Meanwhile, Akane's eyes widened, and she turned red. "Uh… Um… Did I… interrupt you guys or something? Did I ruin your planning session?"

_Wait, what?_ I thought. I didn't lower my kunai. _Does she… not know?_

I gave a sideways glance to Hitomi, who nodded slightly and lowered her own.

I followed suit and smiled at Akane. "Sorry, Akane, you took us by surprise, that's all."

"Oh… I'm sorry!" Akane smiled shyly in reply. Then she removed her hands from Raiden's shoulders, whose face was still white. "Sorry to you, especially, Raiden-kun! I must have really frightened you!"

"N-No, it's f-fine…" he stuttered in turn.

So it turned out that Isao really was an idiot. He didn't tell Akane that we had attempted to force some information out of him, and Hitomi detected that Akane was not in the loop by picking up on a few of her thoughts.

_Still_, I thought. _It's better to be careful, we'll just have to be extra-cautious about Akane_._ She might be able to mask her thoughts, or at least control her mind as well as Isao…_ I didn't have much of a doubt about this, because if Isao was able to force Hitomi out of his head, Akane should be just as capable, if not more.

"What are you all up to? It's still pretty early!" Akane asked with her shy smile.

_Is she trying to figure out our plans?_ I thought. _No, maybe I'm just overthinking this… Anyway, it must be 6 in the morning about now…_

"We're not up to much, Akane," Hitomi replied in a slightly miffed tone.

"**We were wondering where our sensei was**," I added. "So we were trying to rule out different places for our search."

Akane gave a sympathetic look. "Oh, I understand. Here, I'll help you guys, I know a lot about Kusagakure!" She slid into the seat next to Raiden and began examining the map with him.

Hitomi rolled her eyes, and then looked at me with a half smile, almost as if to say, "It's a good thing lying's like a second nature to you now! Or… is that a bad thing?"

It was probably the latter, because I was starting to compare myself to Isao… Had he ALSO started to lie at a young age by the plea of desperate parents? That's a disturbing thought…

Hitomi and I both sat across from the now red-faced Raiden and Akane.

"So when did you last see your sensei?" Akane questioned, getting down to business.

"A-About two days ago, I think…" Raiden answered quietly.

Hitomi nodded in agreement, trying to hold back either laughter, or an outburst.

"Two days..." Akane pondered aloud. "Well, obviously, he's from Konoha, like you, right? But do you know if he was originally from any other village?"

"Sorry, but what does that have to do with anything?" I asked, confused.

Akane shrugged. "You said he was missing, right? Let's say he was kidnapped, or captured. It's better to figure out why he's gone before barging into random places."

"Actually, we don't really know much about our sensei," Hitomi said with a contemplative face.

"Besides the fact that he has an unhealthy obsession with apples..." interjected Raiden. "Or is that considered healthy?"

Hitomi facepalmed herself. "Not the point."

"Oh, Raiden, you're so funny!" Akane giggled, earning her an exasperated groan from Hitomi.

"Let's try to be productive, here..." I sighed. "We don't want to let our troubled sensei down."

**But something seemed... Wrong...**

_Why do I feel so uneasy? _I thought to myself. _I feel as if I'm missing something, something important..._

"Are you alright?" Hitomi asked me, looking away from the "pleasant" scene of Akane playfully teasing Raiden and tying his bandages in a bow.

"Yeah, I'm fine, why?" I replied, disorientated.

Hitomi laughed. "You look like you're lost in thought, and you're doing that nervous breakdown thing with your hands again."

I looked at my hands, and indeed I was. It's not exactly a nervous breakdown, more like a nervous quirk. Whenever I feel restless or anxious, I start to subconsciously tap the tips of my fingers against my thumb, repeatedly, quickly, and one at a time. I may even drum my fingers on any surface I can find, and at times, it looks as if I'm wringing my hands, or plotting someone's demise.

Hitomi's face became serious. "You feel it too?"  
I nodded. So Hitomi had felt this foreboding feeling as well. If both of us were feeling like this, it was definitely a bad sign.

I turned to Raiden to see a constrained look on his face. It could just be the fact that Akane had taken off her bow and was now placing it on Raiden, but it seemed that he too was troubled about something else, something of far more importance.

* * *

"By the way, you three," Akane said with friendly smile. "I live near here, just outside of this clearing. Are you guys hungry or anything? Thirsty?"

The three Leaf ninja shook their heads, each returning her smile, though in a rather awkward manner.

Akane's face adopted a worried look. "What happened to you guys? Raiden-kun, you look as if you have a fever! And you, Shiori, you look like you're shaking! And Hitomi, you look awful!"

Hitomi rolled her eyes. "Gee, thanks..."

Akane turned red. "No! I-I didn't mean it that way, you know that! Oh, what've I gone and done now... I need to watch what I say..."

Raiden laughed. "No, it's fine, she deserves it, anyway."

Before Hitomi could retort, Shiori reached across the table and grabbed Raiden's ear, yanking it. "Play nice, you're annoying enough, already..." she said with a sigh, receiving a rather unmanly "hmph" in return.

"So, would you three like to come over?" Akane said once again, getting back to the subject.

"Wait, I'm a bit confused," Hitomi interjected. "Where are you and Isao originally from?"

Shiori nodded. "We've been seeing you two here in the Hidden Grass, but I've been under the impression that you're actually Hidden Rock ninja..."

"After all, Isao did steal the Tsuchikage's golden seal, right?" Raiden added. "And then the Rock ninja following him said he's always doing stuff like that..."

Akane turned even redder than before. "Yes, well, Isao's an idiot, he doesn't know when his pranks go too far..." Then she gave a shy smile. "Sorry for the confusion. We're both Hidden Grass ninja, but only I live here. Isao lives with our uncle in the Hidden Rock as an apprentice in blacksmithing.

"That's awesome!" Hitomi grinned. "One of our friends belongs to a family of blacksmiths!"

"That's interesting!" Akane replied with her own bright smile. "Isao comes back every now and then to bring back something new he makes, though it's usually some useless junk. There's a whole closet dedicated to his strange creations!"

"So that's why he's here?" Raiden questioned. "What'd he bring back?"

"I... I don't know..." Akane admitted, looking sheepish. "It LOOKS dangerous... You guys want to come and see them? You can take whatever you want, it'll leave me more space for the junk to come..."

"Thanks for the offer, but no thanks," Hitomi said quickly. "Anyway, we want to know where our sensei is, so we'd like to be able to search for him instead of laying around enjoying refreshments."

Akane turned red for the umpteenth time today. "Oh, of course, that's totally understandable! Sorry, I got off track."

Hitomi gave a sweet smile. "No, it's fine!"

"Okay," Akane said in a determined tone, slamming her hands down onto the picnic table. "Back to business! So you guys don't know about your sensei's background?"

Raiden shook his head, then looked away quickly, turning red, when Akane gave him a disheartened smile.

"Well..." Akane said aloud, with a look that clearly showed that she was deep in thought. "I want to stick with the idea that he was taken captive. It's always safer to start with a worst-case scenario, ironically. You guys mind?"

"O_f course not_..." Hitomi enunciated. "W_hy would we mind imagining the worst when it comes to our sensei_?"

Akane gave a nervous chuckle, and continued. "Well, if he was captured or something, we would need to know more about his background. Take me and Isao for example; you thought we were Hidden Rock ninja, but we're actually Hidden Grass ninja."

The three Leaf shinobi nodded to show they understood.

"So you don't have any other clues concerning his background? I mean, he has the flak jacket and leaf headband, but a headband could easily be gained after moving into a Hidden Village. Some people like your sensei can easily hide which village they're from by covering their headbands with their bangs. Then again, that is a pretty pathetic attempt of disguise..."

Shiori, who was deep in thought for quite a while, finally spoke. "You talk as if our sensei's some kind of spy."

"No, I didn't mean it THAT way!" Akane said hurriedly, and in a fluster. "Call it curiosity or whatever, but I just want to help you guys! Can't you trust me?"

"We never said we didn't trust you Aka— Oh..." Shiori stopped short and held her head. "I feel dizzy again..."

Akane's eyes widened, and she put her hands to her mouth. "Oh, the Sound ninja attack, right? Wait here, I'll get some water for you." Akane sped off into the thicket of trees, and disappeared from the clearing. Then she shouted back, "And I'll bring something to eat as well!"

Shiori straightened up and put her hands down with a half smile.

"Nice acting," Raiden said quietly. "You two noticed it as well, huh?"

"Akane takes us too lightly," Hitomi smirked. "We're not idiots."

Shiori sighed. "She's never even met Satoru-sensei, let alone seen him. At least... not when we were present..."

* * *

_DAMN! I screwed up again!_ I thought to myself violently. I continued to make my way through the mass of trees, stopping only to punch my already-clenched fist into the passing evergreens, biting my lip. _I should've just brought refreshments in the first place!_

Well, that wasn't very important… I started to turn my thoughts towards my conversation with my Leaf acquaintances. _Did I forget to say anything? Did I say too much?_ I really hated this kind of intelligence gathering. If I needed information, I'd be more prone to using force than trying to find out what I need to know discreetly. I'm too nervous to talk normally with people, knowing that I'm supposed to deceive them. _Heck, I'm worse than Isao in this stuff… No matter what I said, they wouldn't follow me back here…_ As soon as I neared the edge of the woods, I turned around and held the hand seal for the Ram. _I might as well strengthen my technique._ But it was no use. I was shaking. _Perhaps my jutsu hadn't worked at all earlier, those three seemed in their right minds._ I tried once more, but gave up when I failed once again.

I dispelled the "Loss of Judgement" jutsu altogether, and ran to my house to fetch the refreshments.

* * *

"She's not anywhere near us, from what I can tell," Hitomi said in a low voice. "I can't channel into her thoughts from here… I can only hear bits and pieces of your thoughts, actually…" she said, gesturing to Shiori and Raiden. Then she hit Raiden on the head. "You pervert! This is NO time to be thinking of something like that!" she yelled, and in return, Raiden turned red. "Wh-Wh-What do you m-mean?" he stuttered in reply. "Haha! He fell for it!" Hitomi laughed. Ignoring Raiden's glare, she turned to Shiori and got serious again. "Can you figure out where she is?"

Shiori concentrated on the surrounding vibrations. She was not used to this kind of sensing, but figured that it was a certain ability when she had felt the vibrations from the Sound ninja, Dosu. "I think I can sense something, but do you guys mind keeping quiet for a bit? I'm new at this particular thing."

Hitomi nodded and obliged willingly, while Raiden huffed and rolled his eyes.

After a few seconds of silence, Shiori began to speak. "She's running pretty quickly towards the edge of the woods, and quite noisily… she seems to be a bit distraught, actually… You think she knows that she let slip the fact she's seen our sen— Wait… she stopped and made a hand sign…"

After a while, Raiden's face lit up. "Do you guys feel it too? That murky feeling that's been hanging over us since Akane got here, it's lifting…"

Hitomi fanned herself with her hand. "Thank goodness, the air's finally more breathable!"

Shiori laughed. "You know, sometimes different feelings or situations give off a certain color. As Raiden said, this feeling's a pretty murky shade of—"

"Red," we all said simultaneously.

* * *

"WHAT AM I THINKING!" I shouted out loud. "I'M NOT ABOUT TO POISON THREE SHINOBI FROM KONOHAGAKURE!" Still, I turned over the small bottle of poison in my hand. "Perhaps… something not as strong…"

It was still light outside, but pretty soon, the sun would begin to set.

_This is it,_ I thought. _I have to get this over with by nightfall._

I held another bottle to the light, this one considerably larger.

"Perfect…" I muttered, an almost crooked smile resting on my lips.

* * *

"I'M BACK!" Akane of the Hidden Grass yelled, running towards the three Leaf genin in the middle of the clearing in the woods. The three Leaf shinobi smiled brightly in return, and waited for the older kunoichi to reach them, commenting on how she was a very fast runner.

Akane arrived at the wooden table and placed the basket she was holding on top of it. She quickly brought out a thermos and 4 plastic cups, as well as a bag of potato chips. First, she poured a cup of orange juice from the thermos and handed it to Shiori. "Drink up, you don't want that dizziness to get worse," she said. Then she poured out equal shares for herself, Raiden, and Hitomi.

Raiden took the first sip. "Hey, this is pretty good!"

Akane gave another of her infamous smiles. "I'm glad you like it, Raiden-kun! It's fresh-squeezed!"

Raiden didn't reply, and took a couple more sips. In a few seconds, the cup was drained. Akane poured him another cup, and this one as well was finished in just moments. At this point, both Hitomi and Shiori were staring at him.

"Is it really that good?" Hitomi asked skeptically.

Shiori held her own untouched cup at eye level and narrowed her eyes.

"What's wrong?" Akane asked innocently. "Does it not look right? It has the pulp, sorry."

Both Konoha kunoichi took a sip simultaneously, and spat.

"What's that aftertaste?" Shiori said disgustedly.

"What's that _taste_?" Hitomi groaned, clutching her stomach. "Are you sure it's fresh?"

"Absolutely sure!" Akane replied with a hurt expression. "I made it just earlier today!"

"And you didn't spike it or anything?" Hitomi continued, maintaining her suspicious look. "Raiden seems to like it a bit too much, don't you think?"

"SPIKE IT? That's nonsense!" Akane retorted angrily. The three Leaf genin jumped. They hadn't seen this side of Akane before; she was usually so upbeat and cheery. But now it seemed as though she was full of rage. "Why the heck would you think that?

Behind Akane, a voice sounded, startling her.

"Then why haven't you had any yourself? _Not thirsty_?"

Akane spun around to see Team 11 behind her as well. She was surrounded by doubles.

Akane's eyes widened as she stuttered in confusion. "Wh-what?"

The three shinobi dispelled their Clone Jutsus, and Hitomi repeated her question, placing her hands on her hips. "Well? Why haven't you had any of your _delicious_ orange juice?"

Akane was silent and glared at the three _children_ who had just outsmarted her. (Though of course, the green-haired shinobi was pretty cute.)

Shiori took a few steps towards the picnic table behind Akane, knowing that the kunoichi would not resist, and picked up the cup that her clone had been holding. She held it up, and sniffed it, her eyes widening. "You were going to intoxicate us? There's sake in this!"

Akane crossed her arms and fixed her cold stare on Shiori. "How did you know?"

"So you're not denying it," Hitomi laughed. "I knew there was something fishy about you."

"It's true, you are pretty suspicious, Akane," Shiori agreed. "It was my kekkei genkai. My clone looked at the orange juice you gave; there was something else in it. Then, when she tasted it, she confirmed it was not the normal taste of the 'daily OJ'. To make sure of it, I just now detected the faint scent of alcohol, specifically sake."

"You are pretty low, Akane," Hitomi said in an angry tone. "We're all way too young for alcohol."

"And I bet it isn't even orange season!" Raiden added.

"Actually, Raiden," Shiori said, trying to keep her eyes on Akane. "Oranges are grown year-round."

"…Sorry…"

"Anyway," Shiori continued. "You have some explaining to do, Akane. Why was there sake in that juice? Was it an attempt to get us to spill information?"

Raiden took this moment to whisper to Hitomi, "Hey, how did Shiori know what sake smells like?" Sadly, this question caused Hitomi to slap him behind his head, muttering, "Not the time, idiot. And you're one to talk, your clone went crazy with that stuff!" To which Raiden replied angrily, "I made it do that, I swear!"

Akane gave a helpless sigh and put one hand on her hip, using her other hand to massage her temples. "I was hoping it wouldn't have to come to this…"

The last thing Team 11 saw before they each fell backwards and plunged into darkness, was the swift and nimble figure of Akane, Kunoichi of the Grass, knocking each of them out with deadly precision.

* * *

Dark.

Everything was dark.

_Am I blind?_

There was an eerie silence, a silence that hurt my ears.

_Am I deaf?_

I tried to say something, but I couldn't figure out where my mouth was.

I went into a state of panic.

I couldn't be blind. Nor deaf. No way! If any of my senses were damaged, my kekkei genkai would be worthless.

What was going on?

I tried to calm down, thinking I would die from hyperventilation, when I realized that I wasn't even sure that I was breathing.

…_I'm not dead, am I?_

_No, you're not dead._

_Hitomi?_

_Hiya!_

…_Hi?_

_Heh, I'm in your mind, reading your thoughts. Sorry to intrude._

…_It's fine…_

_So you've been KO'ed too, huh?_

_I guess so… Akane's the culprit, right?_

_You got it… I knew there was something off about her…_

_So have you woken up yet?_

_Nope, couldn't find a way, so I waited till I could channel into either yours or Raiden's thoughts._

_Wow, you can channel into the subconscious, too?_

_Well, I guess I can!_

_Speaking of which, has Raiden came to yet?_

_Lemme check again, maybe I can manage to connect all our thoughts. This is so awesome, I've only been able to talk to other Yamanaka by thought, and you can guess how annoying it is to speak with Ino…_

_Sounds painful…_ I agreed.

Hitomi laughed, and it became silent. She was probably trying to connect Raiden's subconscious to ours.

While she concentrated, I tried again to open my eyes and mouth, but nothing happened. It was as if I had no control over them.

_Hellooooo? Raiden? I'm trying to channel into your mind… Wow, that sounds like SUCH a nightmare…_

I laughed in my mind. Gosh, that sounds awkward.

Raiden's voice spoke quietly.

_Hitomi? Shiori?_

_Finally, thank for answering, dimwit._

_Yeah, that's Hitomi… WAIT! HOW ARE YOU SPEAKING TO ME?_

_Relax, Raiden_. I said— no, thought. _Hitomi found a way to talk to our subconscious minds_.

…_Okay?_

_Idiot… _Hitomi muttered.

_Why is it so dark? I can't see anything, I can't feel anything! I don't think I'm even in my body anymore!_ Raiden sounded genuinely worried.

_We were knocked out by Akane, remember?_ I reminded him. _Ever since that we've been unconscious. But if we're able to communicate like this, we should be waking up soon._

All of a sudden, there was the sound of rushing water. Or at least, something LIKE rushing water.

_Sounds like you're right, Shiori, _Hitomi's voice sounded with a chuckle. _Is this our exit?_

The sound got gradually louder, and we three were silent. I wasn't even sure if they were still there, perhaps the connection had already broken? In moments, the sound was deafening. I felt like covering my ears, yet I had no idea how.

And then, there was an amazing amount of pressure. I regained control over myself, though everything was still pitch black. It felt as if I was resisting against a powerful current in an ocean.

Then came the blinding burst of light, and I could see again.

* * *

**LOL you guys thought we were joking about the orange juice thing? WE HINTED AT IT LAST CHAPTER TOO YA KNOW XD**

**And GEEZ, are Akane and Isao EVIL or GOOD? DO WE TRUST THEM OR NOT? AND WHAT THE HELL IS WITH THIS STATE OF UNCONSIOUSNESS?**

[Shiori: "I agree with you on all points, Hitomi, but I think the REAL question is, what the hell is a "Loss of Judgement" Jutsu?"]

[Mel/Lucky: "HEY, WE'RE HERE TO WRTE THE STORY, NOT DEVELOP JUTSU. IF THAT'S WHAT YOU NEED, GO AND ASK KENSHIN SAKAMOTO OVER THERE IN THE CORNER!"]

[Kenshin Sakamoto: *waves*]

* * *

*_Authoresses(?) Comments*_

_Heheh... such freaky chapters... Oh, and school's getting stressful, so "look forward" to some chapter delays in near future... :( Sorry..._

_-Melpomene Black_

_-Lucky the Leprechaun _

* * *

**Quote of the Week**

[Mel tells Lucky about her CPR certification gained in 9th grade, explains the awkward procedures of the learning session]

Mel: "Apparently, you're supposed to say "ARE YOU CHOKING?" before actually helping the person... I think it's pretty obvious to tell if someone's actually choking though... but at least everyone stopped laughing at each other long enough to realize it's scary business out in the field. But then they started asking each other what they would really do if they had to perform CPR lol."

Lucky: -_-" "I'd call 911. Duh. Kindergarten educated people know that xD ... [facepalm] let's test that... (shoves an extra tomato down sasuke's throat) "ARE YOU CHOKING?"

Sasuke: (wretches)

Lucky: "IM SORRY SIR BUT I CANNOT LEGALLY ASSIST YOU UNTIL YOU NOTIFY ME THAT YOU ARE INDEED CHOKING!"

Sasuke: (passes out)

Lucky: "Oh dear... this is going to be awkward to tell Itachi..."

**LOL**


End file.
